Prince of Darkness No More
by SiFi270
Summary: Kid Dracula is about to witness his father's resurrection for the first time in over 10,000 years. Since then, however, a vivid dream of his mother has completely changed Kid Dracula's view on humanity. How will he respond to his father's methods?
1. Prologue

A/N: Two new stories in a row! Yes, I do plan to write chapters for all five of them at once.

This story takes place a few years after the Game Boy version of _Kid Dracula_, and a few hundred years after the Touhou series. This prologue, however, takes place not too long before the NES version of _Kid Dracula_.

* * *

><p>Ivan Cruz, better known by his alias of 'Kid Dracula', had been asleep for almost ten thousand years now. His father, Count Dracula himself, had been dead for even longer than that, and their servants were beginning to worry.<p>

Death stared curiously at the coffin in which Ivan was resting. Behind him were several undead creatures who were looking just as uncertain.

"It's almost been 10,000 years now." A succubus noted. "What could possibly have caused this?"

"I do not know." The Reaper shook his skull. "But I have my suspicions."

Death's first theory was that Dracula had managed to put his son to sleep from beyond the grave, presumably so that he could rest until the Count's next resurrection.

Despite this, he considered his second theory to be much more plausible: Galamoth, an extraterrestrial beast who sought to claim the title of Dark Lord for himself, was responsible for this. The only problem with this theory was the question of why he hadn't yet taken action.

Born in the mid 21st century to the reincarnation of Dracula, Soma Cruz, and his wife Mina, Ivan was gifted with a power that could possibly outdo that of his traitorous brother, Alucard. With both him and his father out of the question, Galamoth could easily storm Dracula's castle and take over if he so pleased. So why hadn't he?

"I wonder what he could be dreaming about..." The succubus pondered. "I just hope it's something pleasant..."

* * *

><p>"Ivan..." A soft voice whispered. "Ivan... Listen to me..."<p>

The dhampir boy's eyes opened slowly. "...Mom?"

In front of him was a gentle looking woman with blonde hair, dressed almost entirely in black. For a reason he didn't entirely understand, she reminded Ivan of his brother.

"You're not my mom..." He frowned.

"Oh, but I am." She smiled. "Just not in an incarnation you'd recognize. Please, listen carefully. I have a message for you."

He raised an eyebrow. "...Okay."

"Do not hate humans." She requested. "If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm. For theirs is already a hard lot."

Ivan's eyes widened. This all sounded very familiar to him, but he couldn't work out where he'd heard it before. Didn't Alucard once give a similar speech to him?

"Okay..." He nodded hesitantly. "I'm not entirely sure what's going on right now, but I'll do as you say."

It was at this moment that Ivan's coffin was struck by an extremely powerful lightning bolt, and he was finally awakened from his slumber. He looked back and forth and quickly concluded that his mother's message was simply a dream. With a shrug, he decided to explore the Castle that he'd barely even touched in millennia.

Kid Dracula was back.

* * *

><p>AN: ...ula. Backula. Get it?


	2. Requiem

A/N: I hope you weren't expecting this chapter to continue where the prologue left off. As I said before, that's covered in the two Kid Dracula games. And _maybe _two of the Parodius games as well.

Kid Dracula had just defeated Galamoth. Twice.

And yet he still felt that something was missing. Ever since he had awoken from his ten thousand year slumber, Ivan missed something that had been with him almost constantly prior to the slumber.

And that was his father.

"I suppose we could try resurrecting him manually again." A ghost, whom Ivan had come to identify as 'Shaft', offered. "Perhaps things will be different now that the young master is awake."

"It's possible." Death nodded. "Though it may take a while to have everything organized. I suggest you find the Master's remains and a sacrifice before midnight."

* * *

><p>Death managed a smile as he stood next to Dracula's coffin, atop which was a sleeping young woman.<p>

"I must say I'm impressed, Shaft." He remarked. "I honestly didn't expect you to find these so quickly."

"Anything for the master." Shaft bowed.

Ivan glanced nervously at the woman atop his father's coffin. "Do we really have to kill her?" He asked hesitantly. "I mean, couldn't we just..."

"It's the only way." Death interrupted. "That is how it's always been. You don't feel... Empathy... For this woman, do you?"

"I guess not..." He sat down and watched as the ritual finally began, cringing as he watched a dagger being plunged into the woman's heart, though this was quickly replaced by a smile as he noticed a bright light emerging from the coffin.

"It is complete!" Shaft declared happily. "Count Dracula has risen from his grave once again!"

Dracula stood triumphantly where his coffin once was. "Yes, I am back." He bared his fangs. "Which means it is time once again to show these pitiful humans the true meaning of fear. Ivan! Follow me to the keep."

Ivan hesitantly nodded and transformed into a bat, following his also transformed father as instructed.

* * *

><p>Dracula laughed loudly as he watched millions being slaughtered from the safety of his keep.<p>

"One hundred!" He declared. "One hundred lives claimed! And still no sign of a Belmont!"

Ivan was becoming increasingly unnerved. "Is this really what we do? Kill countless humans and wait to be slain again?"

His father looked back at him and frowned. "I am not 'waiting to be slain'. I am waiting for a Belmont to arrive so that I can finally end their bloodline once and for all, so that nothing will stand in our way!"

"In our way of _what_?" He asked. "Why are you doing this?"

Dracula was losing his patience. "Because mankind... Is corrupt. And if you wish to side with them, then I have no need for you!"

He grabbed Ivan by the collar, staring into his eyes with intense fury before throwing him out of the keep and into the forest below. Luckily, he was able to transform into a bat moments before landing, though when he transformed back he noticed two unidentified figures. It didn't take Ivan long to realize that both girls in front of him were vampires, and although they didn't appear any older than twenty, he suspected that they were almost as old as Dracula himself.

"Remilia!" One of them called. "Is this one of the fearsome creatures you wanted me to deal with?"

"No, Flandre." The girl apparently known as Remilia dismissed. "Those don't appear until much later on in the castle. This is..." She inspected the boy more closely. "...It can't be..."

"My name's Ivan Cruz..." He greeted nervously. "I'm the son of Dracula. But I think I've just been disowned."

* * *

><p>AN: Flandre was going to appear much later, and her sister even later than that. But then I figured that there are people here who want to read a Touhou/Castlevania crossover.


	3. Go Go at the Castle

"Master?" Death slowly floated into Dracula's chamber, where the Count was still staring vacantly out of the window. "May I ask what has become of your son?"

Dracula gave an infuriated sigh as he turned to face the Reaper. "Ivan has chosen the same path his older brother took millennia ago. I care no longer what becomes of him, but if necessary I will kill him personally."

"There may be a problem with that." Death stated nervously. "Before your latest resurrection, Ivan was easily able to defeat Galamoth twice in a row. There was hardly even a struggle."

"This does not surprise me in the slightest." Dracula stated. "As I said, I will destroy him even if it means I have to tear this very castle apart in doing so. It's been over ten thousand years since I last walked this Earth. This time, nothing will stand in my way."

* * *

><p>Remilia's jaw hung open, exposing her fangs to the world.<p>

"Ivan... Cruz?" She breathed. "As in... Kid Dracula?"

"Please don't call me that. After what just happened..." He sighed. "Never mind. So who are you two, anyway? And why are you here?"

"My name's Remilia Scarlet!" She smiled proudly. "And this is my younger sister, Flandre! I came here to see Dracula, but the monsters in his castle proved to be pretty stubborn, so I brought her along for backup."

"You came to see my dad?" Ivan raised an eyebrow. "And slay him?"

She shook her head. "Why would I want to do that?"

"Because he's a..."

"Remilia!" Flandre interrupted. "Can we go now? I want to meet the behemoth!"

"Are you sure?" Her sister tilted her head. "The behemoth's one of the easier ones. I think you'd like the beast in the tower better."

"You mean Gergoth?" Ivan interjected. "You can't kill him! He's my best friend!"

Unfortunately, the Scarlet sisters had already rushed into the castle before he could finish speaking, leaving him to wander alone into the castle and hope he could reach his childhood pet before the sisters did.

* * *

><p>Ivan began to feel mixed emotions as he ran through the castle hallway. A part of him felt somewhat nostalgic, as he'd spent most of his time in the upper castle upon awakening, and another part of him felt melancholic in knowing that should he succeed in defeating his father, this entire castle would collapse to the ground.<p>

These feelings became even more prevalent as he encountered two of his oldest aquaintances, who appeared to have gotten news of his betrayal.

Slogra and Gaibon, Death's highest ranking minions, stood between Ivan and the tower in which Gergoth resided. And neither of them seemed willing to move out of the way.

* * *

><p>AN: Today we celebrate national 'Holy crap I can't wait for the next chapter' day.


	4. Poison Mind

Although Slogra and Gaibon weren't very intimidating to Ivan in the past, things seemed very different when they weren't on his side. Even though he was with little doubt the most powerful of his family, very few of his opponents were at all frightening, save for Galamoth himself.

"Guys!" He held his hands in front of him, as though this alone would protect him. "There's no time for this! I have to get to the tower before Gergoth is killed!"

"And why would you care about _that_?" Slogra grinned maliciously. "You despise the Master and his forces now! Why should Gergoth be treated any differently?"

"Because he's my friend!" He insisted. "Gergoth was never evil anyway! He was just mistreated!"

The two demons looked at one another and rolled their eyes before Slogra brandished his spear and gestured for his companion to carry him into the air.

"Fine..." Ivan's eyes suddenly went red as he created a ball of fire in his open palm. "If you're in such a hurry to die, then who am I to stop you?"

He cast the fireball in Gaibon's direction, hitting the creature in the legs and causing it to drop Slogra down to the floor below.

"Clever..." Slogra found himself muttering as he returned to his feet. "Very clever indeed... But you're forgetting something, kid. And that's how Gaibon and I can kill anything, so long as it ain't got a whip!"

"That's funny." Ivan smiled. "I don't remember my brother ever having a whip. Or my dad, for that matter..."

Gaibon's eyes narrowed. "Well let me tell you something, kid. Those guys have got way more experience than you do. Even if you were awake the past ten thousand years, you wouldn't be able to do the things they could when they were fifty! Just do yourself a favor, kid, and wait for a Belmont to arrive or something."

"Don't talk to him like that!" Slogra added sarcastically. "A Belmont killed his father once!"

The two continued making jokes at Ivan's expense, to the point that neither one of them noticed that he was preparing a considerably larger fireball than the previous.

"You're right." He grinned, returning their attention to him. "I _could _let a Belmont handle all this, assuming they ever arrive. But I won't do that. You know why?"

He threw the fireball towards Slogra, completely annihilating him.

"Because this time, it's personal." He exposed his fangs, causing Gaibon to fly away before he could share his companion's fate.

"I could go after him..." Ivan noted to himself as he made his way to the torture chamber. "But first I've gotta find Gergoth before those girls do. And besides, what could _Gaibon _of all demons get up to all by himself?"

* * *

><p>AN: NOT GOING TO TAKE ANOTHER BREAK NOT GOING TO TAKE ANOTHER BREAK


	5. Dance of the Holy Man

Kokoro Belmont was running late.

Dracula had been resurrected over an hour ago, and nobody was prepared. As soon as the news broke out, a massive panic ensued and Kokoro was forcefully rushed into battle, accompanied only by her best friend, Hanafuuma Gesshi.

"You'd think they'd have trained me for this kind of thing during my childhood!" Kokoro remarked as she dashed through the rain. "You know, like they did with all the _other _Belmonts?"

"Back then, Dracula was resurrected on a regular basis." Hanafuuma noted. "Well... Comparatively regular. Anyway, what are you going to do about it? Wake Alucard from his eternal rest?"

"I could..." The Belmont placed a hand to her chin. "It'd make success a hell of a lot more likely."

"I was joking!" She insisted. "We can do this just fine. Has a Belmont ever failed before?"

"No, but they've been cursed and corrupted several times."

Hanafuuma pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as they finally reached the castle. "Just... Go in there and re-kill some monsters, okay?"

"Remilia?" Flandre tapped her older sister on the shoulder. "I'm bored now. Where are the strong monsters?"

"I already told you." Remilia hissed. "There's one at the top of this tower. I promise that if you beat this one in less than ten seconds, you can go home and bother someone else."

"He'd better be tough." Flandre pouted.

At this moment, Ivan stumbled into the room, trying his best to look intimidating to the girls.

"Let me say it again: _You are not killing Gergoth_." He insisted. "He's my friend. You wouldn't like it if I killed all of your friends, would you?"

"But he he tried to kill _me_!" Remilia retorted. "Unless you can call it off for us, Flandre here's gonna go straight through that thing."

"Of course I can!" He transformed into a bat and flew straight to the top of the tower.

"Remilia?" Flandre tugged at her sister's sleeve. "Why didn't we ever think to fly up there?"

"Because..." She paused to think before suddenly faking a scream. "Flandre! There's a demon that makes people stupid behind you! Let me just..." She tossed a fireball over her head. "There. It's gone now."

"Thanks." Flandre hugged her before soaring to the top of the tower at impossible speeds.

Remilia sighed before following the others up the tower, just in time for Kokoro and Hanafuuma to miss them.

"Hey, Hanafuuma." Kokoro grabbed her friend's attention. "Doesn't Dracula normally have bosses in his castle?"

"He does." She nodded. "Maybe someone else is here with us..."

A/N: Join us next week when we find out who's in the castle with them!


	6. Stalker

When Ivan and Flandre finally reached the peak of the tower, they quickly realized that something was wrong.

Gergoth was not present. And there was a large Gergoth-shaped hole in the wall.

"I guess the best case scenario here is that he's gone off to kill all the other monsters." Ivan remarked. "But if that's the case, then he's just doomed as he was before I got here. There are a lot of monsters here that are even more powerful than him."

Flandre peered out of the hole. "Wow. It's a good thing Remilia gave up when she did. I'm surprised she even made it past Frankenstein!"

"Flandre!" Remilia finally reached the top of the tower, looking very angry. "Frankenstein was the name of the scientist, not the creature!"

"I know!" She giggled.

Ivan took a moment to think before suddenly bursting into laughter. "That's great! Why did it take me so long to get that one?"

Remilia, on the other hand, missed what her sister was getting at completely. "Isn't your friend still in danger here? Or did I overhear wrong on the way up here?"

"You're right." He nodded. "If I recall correctly, the next monster in this castle that's twenty feet or taller is..." He suddenly gasped.

"Who is it?" Flandre panicked.

"There's no time to explain!" He quickly transformed into a wolf and rushed ahead, once again leaving the two behind.

"Hey, Remilia." Flandre was suddenly in an inquisitive mood again. "Why can't we turn into wolves?"

"Because we're already outrageously fast!" She answered.

"But wouldn't it be great if we were... faster?"

"Well maybe he'll teach you." Remilia sighed. "In the meantime, let's go and save his pet."

* * *

><p>Gaibon had been flying for what seemed like hours now. He hadn't dared look back down, dreading what might be waiting down there for him.<p>

"Lord Dracula!" He gasped as he finally reached the keep. "It's Ivan! He's... He's."

"I saw." Dracula snarled. "Why don't you take care of the castle's newest visitor?"

"Newest?" He tilted his head.

"A Belmont has finally arrived." The Count explained. "And it seems she has a friend with her."

"...She?" Gaibon's head tilted in the opposite direction.

"Times have changed, haven't they?" Dracula sighed. "Back in the fifteenth century, the idea of me battling a female Belmont would be ridiculous! But..." He paused.

"But what, master?"

"Never mind." He lowered his head. "Just go and kill her."

* * *

><p>Ivan returned to his humanoid form and let out a sigh as he approached a large metallic gateway. Flandre and Remilia quickly caught up, both of them filled with questions regarding their current location.<p>

"Since when did Dracula have such a technologically advanced place in his castle?" Remila wondered. "And what does UAC stand for?"

"This isn't good." Ivan ignored her questions. "If we're here, and Gergoth's not, then that means he's in the next room, and he's already fighting against..."

"Who is it?" Flandre asked.

"It's the bane of all space marines..." He breathed.

"Tell us!" Remilia demanded.

"It's..."

Before he could finish, an intimidating stomping noise became audible, keeping a steady rhythm as it got closer and closer to the door. As soon as it stopped, all three vampires realized that they were doomed.

And then the door opened, and their opponent was revealed to them.

"It's the cyberdemon..." Ivan gasped.

* * *

><p>AN: What do you mean he was never a boss in the Castlevania series? Go out there and CHANGE THAT!


	7. Nobody Told Me About id

"A Cyberdemon." Remilia hid her fear behind tranquil fury. "There's a goddamn C_yberdemon _in Dracula's castle. When in Loki's name did this happen?"

"It was actually my idea..." Ivan blushed. "It seemed like a cool thing to keep in the castle at the time, so I had one of the archviles retrieve him from the Abyss!"

"I bet you impress _all _the succubi with it..." Flandre rolled her eyes.

"Succubi are impressed by anything!" He retorted, hastily dodging a rocket. It was then he finally found Gergoth, who was cowering in the corner. It seemed that the Cyberdemon was about to finish him off before overhearing the three vampires at the doorway.

Ivan was now very thankful that he was able to turn into a wolf. And he was also thankful that he was able to cast wave after wave of homing fireballs. He threw a ball of flame in the mechanical behemoth's direction, which quickly divided into three before homing in on its midsection and colliding. The Cyberdemon grunted in pain and doubled over, giving Flandre an opportunity to strike it with her own fireballs. This caused the behemoth to stagger, but still it refused to die.

Remilia held her hands out, a reflective wave of scarlet knives and needles emerging from them. The Cyberdemon shrugged this attack off completely, advancing towards them with a glare that indicated that it was growing weary of the battle.

_This is it. _Ivan thought disgustedly. _I'm going to die because I thought it'd be cool to have a _Cyberdemon _in this castle. At least I'll die with a good sense of interior design. I bet there isn't a Belmont that can say that._

"The morning sun will vanquish the horrible night!"

Ivan's eyes widened. _I recognize that mantra..._

The room's occupants turned their heads to find Kokoro and Hanafuuma standing in the doorway, each of them holding their weapon proudly above their head.

"It's a Belmont!" Remilia declared.

"Um... Kokoro?" Hanafuuma nervously tapped her best friend on the shoulder. "I don't really like the looks of this room. We're up against a Cyberdemon, two superpowered vampires, a normal vampire, and Gergoth. I really don't like those odds."

"Let's start with the one most likely to interfere then..." Kokoro decided, her whip pointed in the Cyberdemon's direction. The beast recoiled upon sight of the whip, only for the vampire hunter to put it away and instead produce a crucifix.

She tossed the weapon at the creature, hitting its shoulder and tearing its fully-organic arm clean off. As the mechanical behemoth gripped the wound in agony, it failed to notice the crucifix returning to its owner, removing the demon's other arm as it did so. The creature screamed in spite of the blood emerging from its mouth and collapsed helplessly to the ground.

"Remilia?" Flandre tugged at her sister's sleeve. "How does the cross come back to her?"

"Well..." She placed a hand to her chin. "I... Guess it involves magnets?"

"But how do _those _work?" She persisted.

Remilia took a moment to think about this. "You know what, forget the magnets. It comes back to her because... It's full of tiny... Owls... Yes."

"Okay!" Flandre accepted this theory without a moment's hesitation. "Now, let's..."

"Hold it!" Hanafuuma called. "You're not going anywhere! We came to this castle to rid it of supernatural creatures like you, and that's exactly what we're going to do."

* * *

><p>AN: Think about it: Have you ever seen Maria Renard and the Crucifix at the same time? That's what I thought.

...Nocturne in the Moonlight doesn't count.


	8. Heart of Fire

"Hold on a minute here..." Remilia took a nervous step back. "We're not working for Dracula here. We're just..."

"Yes?" Hanafuuma held out her blade menacingly.

"We're here to see him!" Flandre answered cheerfully. "Remilia's a big fan of his, and I'm here to clear out anything that gets in her way!"

Ivan slapped his forehead in exasperation.

"So you're followers of Dracula, are you?" Kokoro cracked her whip. "Monsters like you don't belong in this world! Also, I couldn't notice that you..." She pointed to Ivan. "Happen to be the son of Dracula. The loyal one." She threw a knife at the trio, only for Remilia to catch it and crush it in her palm.

"Knives..." She muttered inaudibly. "Every time I see them..."

Ivan's bat-like hearing was able to pick this up very clearly, but he chose to ignore it, resolving to ask Flandre about it later.

However, he could never have predicted the the mere sight of this knife would throw her into an unfathomable rage, nearly destroying the entire room as she flew towards the vampire hunters.

"Kokoro!" Hanafuuma called in a panic. "The stopwatch! Use the stopwatch!"

Kokoro nodded as she reached into one of her pockets, producing a small, seemingly harmless stopwatch. She pressed the button on the top, causing time to stand completely still.

But this only seemed to affect Gergoth, who had barely moved from his cowering position even while time was still flowing.

Remilia quickly reached Kokoro and grabbed her by the collar. "Okay..." She growled. "You're obviously doing this just to piss me off. Why don't you just dress like a maid while you're at it?"

Kokoro was sweating intensely, even though she realized that Remilia was the weakest of the vampires. "...What are you talking about?" She begged.

"The knives..." She growled. "The ability to stop time... It's all too much to be coincidence. What do you know about Sakuya Izayoi?"

The Belmont raised an eyebrow. "...Who?"

She was surprised to find that Hanafuuma knew the answer to this question. "Sakuya Izayoi. She was a vampire hunter with loose ties to the Belmont clan. She was born in 1979, and mysteriously disappeared after Dracula's 'final' defeat in 1999."

Both Flandre and Remilia's eyes widened. "Vampire... Hunter?" They mouthed simulaneously.

"But that means she came to the Scarlet Devil Mansion so that she could..." Remilia continued. "So why didn't she...?"

"We'll settle this later." Kokoro finally decided. "It seems there's much more to you than even the whip knows... I never thought I'd say that... But the point is, we'll figure this out once we've gotten Dracula out of our hair."

She left at an improbable speed, Hanafuuma trailing almost as quickly behind.

Ivan looked at the two sisters and shrugged. "You can explain this as we go along." He leapt onto Gergoth's back. "It's never a good idea to waste time in this place."

* * *

><p>AN: If Sakuya suddenly has axes or a whip in her next appearance, I totally called it.


	9. Flowering Night

"I guess I should start from the beginning..." Remilia sighed as she hovered next to Gergoth, atop whom Ivan was still sitting. "That girl said Sakuya disappeared after 1999, right? It was around that time I first met her. One of my guards came up to me one day and told me someone was rampaging through the mansion, so I went to investigate. I found her making her way to the basement, which is where Flandre usually is, so I warned her not to go in. She complied, but she still refused to leave the mansion. And for reasons I still don't fully understand, she became a maid. But she's a damn good one! She cleans the entire place in literally no time at all!"

"But that still doesn't explain why you become so angry when you're reminded of her." Ivan noted.

"Well..." She sighed heavily. "At the end of the day, Sakuya was just a human, really. And that meant that eventually she would die. But during my life, I actually began to... Feel something for her. Something I couldn't quite describe at the time..."

"Was it love?" Flandre guessed, never having seen this side to her sister.

"I was getting there." She confirmed. "So yeah, I offered to make her vampire so that we could be together for longer, but she refused. She never really explained why, but..." Tears were beginning to appear in her eyes. "When she finally died, I told her how I felt... And she just smiled at me and said 'I know'. And since then, I've been thinking that she knew what effect her death would have on me, and she just didn't care... And I've never had any doubt about that until just now..."

By the time she had finished explaining, Remilia had gone from 'somewhat tearful' to 'sobbing uncontrollably'.

"I guess becoming a vampire corrupt the bloodline." Ivan theorized. "I'm only going by what I've just learned here, but I think the reason she was suddenly so compliant after meeting you was because... Well, I think she felt the same way."

"I think you're right." Flandre nodded. "Sakuya was always very faithful... And she always seemed so depressed for some reason. Knowing you can't be with someone you love can have that kind of effect." She stated almost knowingly.

Remilia dried away the last of her tears. "You know, this place gets kind of empty when you let someone else go first..." She noted, trying to change the subject. "I wish they'd at least leave _something _behind for us to fight..."

As if to spite her, Gaibon chose that exact moment to descend in front of them, carrying his fallen comrade's spear.

"I bet you weren't expecting to see me again!" He laughed. "Actually, I wasn't expecting to see you here either. You seen a Belmont around lately?"

Ivan opened his mouth to reply to this, but before he could say anything he noticed Flandre take a step forward.

"What if we have?" She asked coldly.

"If you have, you'd better tell me where she is..." Gaibon pointed the spear in her direction. "If you don't, things could get _very _messy."

"We'll see about that." She placed her hand around his neck, slowly tightening her grip with a giggle that somehow managed to combine innocence and total insanity. Once her fist was fully clenched, the demon exploded, splattering more blood across the room than it could possibly have contained.

"I guess he was right!" She laughed. "I didn't tell him where the Belmont was, and as a result things got really messy!"

Ivan stared blankly at her, his mouth agape, while Remilia just looked at him and smiled.

It wasn't until now that Ivan began to truly see what kind of person Flandre was. He realized that, while she could be very cheerful and personable at times, one would have to be incredibly lucky to see that side of her. And he also realized that she was far more than just another vampire; When provoked, she was an unstoppable force capable of destroying anything and everything.

But these revelations paled in comparison to Ivan's third realization about Flandre.

He realized he was in love with her.

* * *

><p>AN: Two days in a row of writing exposition-heavy chapters. Heck yeah!


	10. Operation VK

Following the battle with Gaibon, Ivan had become very silent, much to the confusion of the Scarlet sisters. Although he had repeatedly assured them that Flandre's earlier attack hadn't frightened him, he was still reluctant to explain what was wrong.

Despite having 'lived' for over ten thousand years, the sensation of falling in love was a completely new experience for Ivan. The succubi littering the castle had often tried to appeal to him and failed, and both Dracula and Alucard had warned him about the dangers of falling in love with a mortal woman. But luckily for him, Flandre was not a mortal woman.

"Hey!" Remilia pointed ahead to where Kokoro and Hanafuuma were standing at a door. "It's that Belmont girl!"

"My name's Kokoro..." Her eyes narrowed. "Though I guess it's my fault that I didn't bother to tell you that. Anyway, do you think you could help us out here?"

"What seems to be the problem?" Ivan hopped off Gergoth and inspected the door in front of them. "Is there an enemy behind here?"

"Not exactly." Hanafuuma dismissed. "There's a ghost in there who won't let us pass unless we bring him a certain relic. The problem is, the relic could be anywhere in the castle, and it could even have been destroyed."

Ivan rolled his eyes. "It'd better not be a crucifix." He muttered. "You didn't just wait here until we arrived so that you could place all the responsibility on us, did you?"

"Well... You _can _fly..." Kokoro shrugged. "We figured you might find it on the roof or something."

"Or maybe you'd find it if you looked for yourselves." Remilia added. "How do you know this isn't some Belmont-exclusive test given by the ghost of one of your ancestors?"

"Because I'm pretty sure he's not a Belmont!" Kokoro retorted. "Go in there and see for yourself!"

Flandre nodded excitedly at this suggestion and burst through the door, much to the surprise of the other two vampires, as well as the ghost inside.

"I know that ghost!" Ivan gasped. "It's..."

"Who is it?" Remilia's eyes widened.

"Why do you always ask that just before I say who it is?" He sighed. "Anyway, it's Simon Belmont the fifth. The last Belmont to fight Dracula, and the only one I met in person until Kokoro came along."

"What are you doing in here?" Simon demanded.

"Well, I'm not protecting Dracula like I was last time." He clarified. "So neither you nor your descendant need to worry about that. Speaking of whom, I hear you've sent her on an errand."

"You are not allowed to assist her." Simon's eyes narrowed.

"Right, right. I'll let her know that right away." He nodded. "But, just out of interest... What do you want her to find?"

"Satan's ring."

* * *

><p>AN: I have so many ideas for this story... And they're all for after they leave the castle and return to Gensokyo.


	11. Chained Lady

Ivan let out a sigh as he left Simon's chamber, leading Kokoro to doubt that he came with good news. Flandre's sympathetic expression failed to make her any more confident.

"We can't go with you." He explained apologetically. "But we'll go on ahead and find Dracula for you."

Hanafuuma's eyes widened. "But what if... What if you don't make it?"

Remilia shrugged. "Then we don't. That shouldn't matter too much. You're the ones who are actually important here."

Ivan turned and glared at her. "I'm not letting you or your sister die. Even if I have to tear this entire castle apart brick by brick, everyone in this room is making it out alive or undead."

"That's good to know." Kokoro waved goodbye as she departed to retrace her footsteps in the castle. Ivan waved back, but his confidence quickly disappeared when Flandre suddenly hugged him tightly from behind, which may have been lethal were he not a vampire with no need to breathe.

"That's great!" She complimented. "I'll keep an eye out for you too. That way, neither of us will die!"

"We won't..." He agreed nervously. "But... Do you think you could let go? This is getting... Kind of uncomfortable."

"Oh!" She quickly let go. "Sorry about that... Sometimes, if I'm not careful..."

"She can destroy anything." Remilia finished. "It's why I brought her to the Castle in the first place."

"And where was she before then?" It slowly began to dawn on Ivan how Flandre was treated back at home. "Do you keep her locked in the basement or something?"

Neither one of the sisters responded to this.

"I don't believe this!" He threw his arms into the air. "I mean, I understand that she's immensely dangerous, but that doesn't mean she's some kind of weapon you can pull out in any 'emergency'!"

Remilia and Flandre stared at him in disbelief. For them, this outburst had come completely out of nowhere.

"You came to see Dracula..." He muttered disgustedly. "Go right ahead. Maybe if he found out about the atrocity you've been doing this past hundred thousand years, he'd realize what a monster he's been and try to atone for it all."

"Oh!" Remilia began to chuckle sarcastically. "I'm sorry, this is just hilarious. You're giving me a lecture on morals! You turned against Dracula, what, two hours ago? Listen: I really didn't want to keep Flandre in there. If I had a choice, I'd let her roam free all night. But I can't do that! Do you know why? Because whenever she's loose, lives are at stake! I can't control her! _She _can't control it! Do you ever wonder what'd happen, if she went out and found someone she liked, and the next thing she knew that person was dead, and she had no one to blame but hers..."

All of a sudden, the entire room shook violently. As both Ivan and Remilia panicked over what monster could possibly have sought them out, a huge explosion enveloped the room. When everything finally settled again, the two looked nervously at one another, and then back at Flandre.

Flandre was breathing heavily whilst glaring furiously at both of them.

"I've had enough of your arguing!" She yelled. "This isn't the time or the place for it! Now, we are going to Dracula's keep like Ivan wanted. I don't care what happens when we get there, just as long as you two aren't fighting on the way! You got that?"

Ivan and Remilia both nodded without hesitation.

"That's great." She smiled innocently. "Now let's get going!"

* * *

><p>AN: Nobody's really evil in Touhou. Nobody except the Yellow Devil.


	12. Marble Gallery

Ivan and his friends were beginning to grow very tired. Were it not for the prevalent black sky above them, they'd assume that several days had passed by now.

"We ought to split up." Remilia suggested. "Who knows? Maybe one of us will run into Kokoro that way."

"I'll go with Ivan." Flandre decided. "I have to talk to him about something."

"Okay..." He nodded hesitantly. "I'm fine with that." He made his way to the castle's marble gallery, which Alucard had once told him was a good place for conversation.

"Ivan..." She began. "Has it ever occurred to you how easy it would be for me to get out of that basement?"

"Has it ever occurred to you?" He retorted.

"Well of course!" She laughed. "I've managed it from time to time... Sometimes without anyone noticing... But most of the time I stay there... For my own safety. I've hurt some close friends in the past... Sometimes I was really lucky and they survived. Sometimes I wasn't quite as lucky, but still got to make up with their ghost. But over the centuries, I learned that I couldn't just rely on luck. I learned that the safest way of doing things was to stay put in the basement and find another way of keeping touch."

Ivan paused. "So do you... Have any friends back at home?"

"Sure I do!" She smiled. "There are lots of people working for Remilia at the mansion!"

"Anyone outside the mansion?" He tilted his head.

"Well... There's this one girl..." She nodded. "Her name is Demo. She can be pretty funny, but... Sometimes, she scares me a little."

"Even though you're more powerful than her?" He mused.

"You're more powerful than me, but you still seem to be scared of me." She stuck out her tongue.

"Tha- That's not the same thing!" He insisted. "The... The reason I act like this around you is because..."

"Go on..." She smirked.

"It's because... Well, I..."

"It's Ivan!" Kokoro burst into the room. "We found Satan's ring!" She held it into the air.

"That's great!" Ivan turned to face her as though the previous conversation had never happened, much to Flandre's disappointment. "Now we can get past Simon!"

"Indeed you can." The ghost materialized into the room. "Your test is complete, you two. You are now worthy of facing Dracula!"

"Great!" Kokoro hugged Hanafuuma in celebration, much to the girl's surprise. "We'd better get going, right Hanafuuma?"

"Right..." She nodded slowly. "I'll be with you in a minute..."

* * *

><p>AN: Demo is a really obscure character in the Touhou series. She was an unnamed midboss in one of the VIC-20 games.


	13. Don't Wait Until Night

"Hey Gergoth." Ivan greeted casually. "You been waiting here long?"

"I don't remember you leaving him here..." Remilia noted. "From what I remember, he just kind of disappeared."

"Sure, choose the explanation that makes even less sense." He shrugged. "But I guess there are some things about Gergoth that don't make much sense. Like how he just fit through this door!"

Kokoro and Hanafuuma stared blankly through the door, where the behemoth was now waiting for them.

"The less questions asked, the better, I guess." Hanafuuma shrugged. "Anyway, it looks like we're nearing the dungeon now. That's usually the second to last area of the castle."

Ivan nodded. "I haven't been through much of the castle since I woke up from my hundred thousand year sleep, but things are actually starting to look familiar now..."

"But doesn't that mean we're getting closer to death?" Kokoro shuddered. "By proximity, of course..."

"I never understood why so many people had a problem with death." Hanafuuma mused. "From what I understand, he doesn't kill people unless it's their time."

"That's a common misconception." Ivan explained. "Death... Or at least, the Death that hangs around with Dracula... Is in charge of an entire army of reapers, each one in charge of a different cause of death. You may run into Death of Being Eaten Alive or Death of Inhaling Toxic Chemicals... Or even Death of Being Killed by _the _Death..."

"I never knew Death was so organized..." Flandre remarked. "But then again, I guess it explains why so many living beings are killed across the universe so quickly with ease."

"So where do the other Horsemen of the Apocalypse fit into that?" Remilia wondered. "And how does this affect Dracula's forces?"

"I really don't know." He shrugged. "The whole 'forces of the undead' thing is beyond my understanding. Some people are the second most important person to Dracula one minute, and aren't even there the next. Like my cousin Elizabeth."

"But wouldn't that mean those people are still running around after he's been defeated again?" She noted.

"You'd think so..." He nodded. "But if his previous defeats are any indication, they aren't doing much. I guess they're pretty much helpless without him..."

"Your father is an excellent leader." Death interjected, to everybody's shock. "And I believe you may have inherited that from him. Perhaps if I finish you here and now, the girls following will fall like dominoes."

* * *

><p>AN: Join us next week when Death actually challenges to a game of dominoes!

You know, 'cause he's Death. He loves board games.


	14. Evil's Symphonic Poem

"Stand aside, old man." Remilia instructed. "Standing next to me is Flandre Scarlet, known to some as 'The Devil's Sister'. You may have met some of her victims."

"I have." The reaper nodded. "Though I would probably have met more if you allowed her to roam free."

"Well, I'm free now!" Flandre leapt towards him and attempted to grab his robe, only to phase straight through him. As she stood up, she noticed that several miniature sickles were appearing throughout the room, each one seemingly self-aware and intent on moving towards Ivan and his friends.

"I hate this trick..." Ivan sighed. "And I'm pretty sure the entire Belmont clan does too. Kokoro, how're you doing?"

Kokoro was unable to answer, as she was too busy dodging sickles and furiously gritting her teeth.

Hanafuuma sliced through one of the blades with her own, having read that many other vampire hunters had survived by doing so in the past. She had also read that Simon Belmont had once managed to ignore Death completely and walk past him, though she was fairly certain that this wouldn't work for them.

"This is ridiculous." Remilia grunted. "Having projectiles everywhere with no hope of avoiding is supposed to be a Gensokyo tradition. I should be used to this kind of thing!"

"Well, it happens a lot in the castle, too." Ivan shrugged as he finally managed to hit Death with a fireball, but this had no visible effect on him. "Especially with the medusa heads. I'm surprised we haven't run into those yet. Kokoro, did you happen to wipe them out?"

Being reminded of some more of the castle's more difficult aspects, Kokoro was sent into a blind rage, repeatedly striking Death with no regard whatsoever for her health.

"I _hate _this castle!" She cried. "It's like, one night Dracula was sitting in his Castle being a useless piece of crap, and he suddenly thought," She put on her best Bela Lugosi impression. "'Damn! This castle is filled to the brim with undead monsters, but I'm sure I could fit in a few more! Let's just make this place _impossible _for any being living or undead to traverse through! Ah ah ah!'. Okay, I'm done. How is everyone?"

She suddenly noticed that everyone was looking at her feet, and when she looked down for herself she noticed that she was standing on Death's robes, the reaper himself nowhere to be found.

"Um..." She scratched her head. "...I wasn't really paying attention there. Did anyone see him die?"

"I did." Hanafuuma nodded. "Let's hope you've still got some ranting left over for when we face the Count himself."

* * *

><p>AN: Last chapter, one of my reviewers pointed out that one of the genres for this story should be humor instead of drama. The problem is that this, like pretty much everything I've written, switches between the two faster than even I can keep up with. And I'm not replacing the 'romance' because Kid DraculaxFlandre being adorable is the sole reason I wrote this.


	15. Out Of Time

"Lord Dracula..." Shaft nervously approached his master. "It seems that your son has nearly wiped out your entire army. What do you propose we do next?"

Dracula sighed heavily and lowered his head. He knew that Ivan was outrageously powerful, even more so than his brother, but he still didn't expect him to get through the castle so quickly and effectively.

"Run." He eventually answered. "Your continued presence is not worth the trouble. You'll last longer out there, and soon you will be able to carry out my next resurrection."

Shaft was taken aback by this order, as many would be if they heard it from the lord of darkness himself. "...Lord Dracula?"

"I am more than just a vampire, or an impaler." The Count reminded him. "I am a tactician. I need to be constantly thinking about the most effective action to take next. And the plan I have chosen for this scenario requires your safety."

"I... I see." The ghost bowed as he phased away into nothingness. "Thank you, master."

Dracula returned to his throne and sighed once more. "It's been a long night..." He remarked. "I look forward to seeing its end."

Flandre was becoming increasingly worried as she traversed the castle's clock tower. This was not because she was getting closer and closer to Dracula, nor because she was on a bridge that was collapsing surprisingly quickly. It was because Ivan was becoming increasingly melancholic as they moved across the bridge, despite constantly being reminded that they were in a hurry.

"Not all of us can fly, you know!" Kokoro chastised. "You can worry about whatever this is _after _we've killed your..." She suddenly placed her hands over her mouth, and then slowly removed them. "Oh... I... I guess I should've realized that sooner."

"It's not that." Ivan denied. "I'm actually quite surprised how quickly I've come to despise that man. The thing is... This castle's my home. As soon as Dracula is destroyed, the entire place will fall with him, and then what do I do? Do I go into a near-permanent sleep, like my brother? Do I just wait for the next..."

"Hold it right there." Remilia interrupted. "After all we've been through, do you really think Flandre and I are going to let you wander the earth alone forever? I don't think so. There's plenty of room in the Scarlet Devil Mansion for you to stay. You'll be more than welcome there. As a matter of fact, anyone who doesn't want you there will be kicked out!"

"I..." Ivan silently scolded himself for never having considered this. "...Thank you."

"You're welcome." Flandre nodded, suddenly turning to face the keep in front of her. "Now let's take down Dracula!"

A/N: Yes, they're doing stuff, but I'm only telling you what they're saying while they do that stuff.

...Is that bad writing?


	16. Dance of Illusions

A/N: In case you're wondering what Dracula looks like in this story, just picture Soma Cruz with an evil goatee.

* * *

><p>"Gergoth should probably stay down here for now." Remlia suggested. "There'll still be time to get him when the castle collapses, right?"<p>

"It takes a lot longer for the castle to collapse than people think." Ivan explained. "So yeah, he'll be fine. Let's just go up there and finish this."

Kokoro nodded and lead everybody up the stairwell, stopping only to fully absorb the fact that after thousands of generations of peace, _she _was the member of her clan chosen to fight Dracula.

"Dracula!" She threw the door to the keep open. "You should never have returned to this world! Return to the abyss where you belong!"

Dracula simply stood and opened his cape, having long grown tired of debating with the Belmonts. To him, every one of their arguments was the same, and he preferred to make his opinions known much more bluntly.

As such, he cast a fireball from underneath his cape which quickly divided into three. For the most part, this attack was dodged with ease, but Flandre was much more daring. She caught each projectile with lightning speed and crushed them in her fist, which the Count actually found to be somewhat surprising.

"Hello, Dracula." She greeted calmly. "My name's Flandre. I can destroy anything I want by moving the eye of the object – That's where the tension's highest – into my hand, and then pouring my power into it! Do you want to see?"

Dracula stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Go on, then."

Flandre nodded confidently and clenched her fist, causing one of the candelabra next to Dracula's throne to shatter into pieces.

"And you're next!" She declared as she opened her hand and quickly closed it again.

But nothing happened.

She unclenched and clenched her fist frantically, gasping as soon as she fully grasped what was happening.

"His eye!" She cried. "I can't find his eye!"

"Then I guess we're going to have to do things the old fashioned way..." Hanafuuma unsheathed her sword and slashed at Dracula's face, causing him to recoil in pain despite the lack of visible damage.

"You believe yourselves to be worthy of fighting me?" He chastised. "You are nothing more than children to me! Now try to withstand my true form... And perish!"

Ivan hurriedly pulled Flandre's still catatonic body back as his father grew to twice his size, his skin turning a deep gray as six bat-like wings emerged from his back.

"He really is a monster..." Remilia gasped. "And because of my blindness, I'm going to die by his hand..."

* * *

><p>AN: Now if Dracula transformed after one hit in the games, would that be stupidly easy or just unfair?


	17. Black Banquet

_Well, this is it. _Kokoro thought. _So far I've done much better than I expected to, and now Dracula's gone and done his big transformation. If there was ever a chance to turn back, it's now long gone._

With this in mind, she produced a crucifix and held it into the air, several larger crosses emerging from the ground and a cross-shaped flame behind her to top it all off. She'd been waiting to try the legendary 'Item Crash' for quite some time now, but Hanafuuma had constantly advised her to save it for Dracula. And doing so proved to be incredibly effective as the beast continuously tried to dodge the rising crosses only to be hit by another.

"Ivan!" Hanafuuma called. "We could really use your help right about now!"

Ivan looked at his father, then back at Flandre. "I... I can't..."

"Don't worry about her!" Remilia insisted. "I'll try and keep an eye on her while you actually do something useful! I'm probably much better suited for that job than you are! I'll even let you know when she's snapped out of it!"

He took another look around the room before finally making up his mind.

"Okay." He finally let go of Flandre's body as a fireball appeared in each of his hands. "I'll try and make this quick."

He cast a barrage of fireballs at Dracula, each one homing in on its target. Although each projectile successfully hit the count, and this was clearly very effective, the battle was not over.

Dracula had another transformation in store for the heroes.

Though technically, as Hanafuuma was quick to note, one could also have considered it a continuation of his first transformation, as opposed to a new form altogether. To her, the previous form was a mere halfway point between the two, and that his newest form, which simply had his legs replaced with the body of a spider, was the true peak of his power this time around.

"Well, this has come as quite a surprise." Kokoro noted as she prepared a bottle of holy water. "But I think I can handle this. Hydro storm!" She threw the bottle into the air, causing torrents of rain to fall from the sky. Ivan quickly wrapped his cape around his body and disappeared, only reappearing when the rain had finally stopped.

"Infidels!" The impaler roared, grabbing Flandre by the throat. "I will tear out your souls and cast them into the abyss!"

He then proceeded to toss her out of the keep, causing Remilia to fly after her, which quickly proved to one of his biggest mistakes since sacrificing his soul for power.

What Kokoro and Hanafuuma saw next was a shock that they would never forget. At first, the two had assumed that Dracula had managed to transform into yet another hideous creature, but as soon as they realized that he looked just as he did a few minutes ago, and that Ivan was nowhere to be found, they concluded that the abomination before them was actually on their side.

Which wasn't quite as reassuring as it should have been.

The two continued to watch in horror as the beast that apparently used to be Ivan tore his father limb from limb, the massacre finally ending with Dracula being engulfed in a colossal ball of flame, followed by total silence.

"We... We did it!" Kokoro cheered. "Well, I guess most of the credit goes to Ivan, but..." She searched the room. "...Ivan?"

"He's over here." Hanafuuma brought her attention to his seemingly lifeless body. "We'll have to carry him out of here before the Castle collapses."

The Belmont nodded silently as she grabbed his ankles, her friend doing the same with his wrists. They then proceeded to hurry out of the castle until they finally reached the entrance again, where they met Remilia and a slowly recovering Flandre.

"Is everything okay now?" Flandre tilted her head. "Where's..." She noticed Kokoro and Hanafuuma lowering Ivan's body onto the ground. "...Ivan!"

She quickly ran over to him and fell to her knees, tears flowing continuously from her eyes. "You can't do this!" She cried. "We made a promise! You said we were all going to leave this castle unharmed, and that you were going to live with us in the Scarlet Devil Mansion and..." She trailed off until she was sobbing uncontrollably.

Remilia knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know what you're going through." She assured her. "You'll just have to..."

"No!" Her sister interrupted. "He can't be dead! I... I won't let it happen! I love him!"

Just as the word 'love' left her mouth, Ivan finally began to show signs of movement. It began simply with his fist unclenching, but as his eyes slowly opened, he was surrounded with cheers.

"Ivan!" Flandre smiled from ear to ear and hugged him tightly. "I... I..."

"I heard." He smiled back. "And Flandre... I love you too."

The two then proceeded to share a kiss as the others watched in satisfaction. Their journey was finally over, but many more would await.

* * *

><p>AN: I have a feeling that last sentence has been used in a million other things, but I don't ever recall seeing it before.


	18. New Horizons

Gensokyo was a wonderful place.

Or at least, that was Ivan's first impression upon seeing the place for the first the time, and neither Remilia nor Flandre would disagree with him on this in a hurry. Even Gergoth seemed to be delightfully calm as he watched the pleasant scenery go by.

"If you like this place, then you're going to love the mansion!" Remilia assured him. "That is, assuming you don't spend all your time in the basement with Flandre."

"Sounds tempting..." He smirked. "But in all seriousness..."

"Hey!" Flandre suddenly forced him to face forward. "It's Demo! Hi, Demo!"

Standing in front of the group was a short cycloptic girl with short blue hair and a matching dress, and stubby legs with no shoes or even feet. Although there was a mouth on her face, it was so small that it was hardly visible from even a few yards away.

"Hey there everyone..." She raised one of her legs and 'waved'. "This is Demo."

"Hi Demo!" Flandre waved excitedly. "This is my boyfriend, Ivan! Say hi, Ivan!"

"Hi..." He nervously raised his hand.

"You must be headed for the mansion." Demo realized. "Follow me."

She turned around and began walking, but she quickly turned around again to find that Gergoth was still distracted by the luscious plant life.

"Ah, stupid horse." She rolled her eye.

* * *

><p>"So um, yeah, this is the Scarlet Devil Mansion reconstructed." Demo introduced as she somehow managed to open the door. "They've reconstructed the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It had a lot of renovations to do. It just wasn't up to code, you know. There was some stuff going on, they found a whole lot of battery acid running around in the attic, and you know how noisy that can get. Neighbors started to complain, they called a telephone number, which doesn't even exist, but they managed to make one just for that one occasion. It was just a big ol' piece of chili pie."<p>

"I'm sure it was." Ivan moved closer to Remilia and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Is she normally like this?"

"She is." She nodded. "But she's right about the mansion being reconstructed. Back when Sakuya was alive, she was able to make the place bigger inside than outside... Something to do with her time powers... But now that she's gone, the Mansion has to adhere to the laws of physics. Which basically meant we had to start from scratch."

"Mistress Remilia!" A ghost dressed like a hybrid between a witch and a maid materialized into the room. "...It's been almost ten thousand years, and I'm still not used to calling you that." She suddenly noticed Ivan. "Hey, I think I know you! Aren't you the son of Dracula?"

"Not any more..." He smiled wearily. "But yes, I've seen you before... Aren't you the one who's always with Mima, the Ghost Queen?"

"My name's Marisa." She shook his hand. "I'm the Scarlet Devil Mansion's maid. And I also happen to be married to the Ghost Queen."

"Wouldn't that make you the Ghost Queen too?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Some seem to think so, others choose not to." She shrugged. "I somehow doubt they took same-sex marriage into account when they invented monarchy."

"It was just a big ol' piece of chili pie." Demo repeated.

* * *

><p>AN: I have a lot of ideas for Demo, so let me know if she's hogging the story. Speaking of whom, I don't own her. She belongs to a certain Mr. Raocow.


	19. The Centennial Festival for Magical Girl

After what seemed like hours of meeting and greeting, dusk was finally approaching the Gensokyo and the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion (plus Demo) were enjoying dinner, where Ivan finally explained the full story of his redemption to everybody.

"So you literally went to Dracula's castle?" Demo took a nervous bite out of her blueberry muffin. "I always figured that whenever a guy went over to you and said 'hey, I'm going to Dracula's castle', it was just a metaphor for breakfast. I mean, let's not delude ourselves here. The reason they'd loudly announce something like that is because it's no longer morning and it's therefore not that obvious what meal they're going to be... Inhaling."

"And I'm guessing you didn't believe in vampires until now either." Remilia sighed.

"Vampires have always been a gray area with me." The cyclops attempted a shrug, but failed due to her lack of shoulders. "I mean sure, there are ordinary people out there who drink blood for the hell of it, and sometimes they happen to be really pale, and sometimes their teeth happen to be very sharp, and more often than not, they burst into flames during the day, but... Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen somebody with a surname like 'Lugosi'. That's just impossible. Like blueberries." She gestured towards the muffin she'd barely eaten.

"She has a point there!" Flandre's eyes narrowed. "Name one other food that's blue, naturally colored and not moldy."

Marisa sat quietly and smirked as she waited for Demo to suddenly shout 'hedgehogs'.

* * *

><p>"So this is the basement." Flandre showed Ivan where she spent most of her time. "Demo would probably say something like 'you can tell because it's a basement'."<p>

"Well, it's a lot better than I expected." He remarked. "...No offense."

"None taken." She shrugged. "So anyway, there are plenty of rooms upstairs, but if you want to stay down here then we can definitely..."

"Definitely down here." He decided stubbornly. "With you."

"Thought so." She smirked. "Marisa!"

The ghostly witch maid materialized in front of them. "Flandre! Can I help you?"

"Ivan here needs something to sleep in." She explained.

"Down here?" Marisa gave a knowing smile.

"Yes, down here." Ivan nervously cleared his throat. "Preferably a coffin."

"Isn't there already a bed down here?" She continued. "Why would you need two?"

"Marisa!" Flandre snapped. "Ivan and I have been together for, what, a day now? Why would we take things that far so soon? Just get him a coffin, okay?"

"Okay!" She nodded hastily. "Geez, it was just a joke!" She rushed back upstairs to find – Or if need be, magically conjure – a coffin.

* * *

><p>AN: Good god, Demo's first two rants there already bring this thing up to 200 words or so.


	20. Eternal Shrine Maiden

It had been one month now since Ivan settled into the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and Ivan was still happier than he'd ever been in ten thousand years.

"Good evening, Ivan!" Flandre greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

"Not really..." He admitted. "I've been having some nightmares recently... Or daymares... Or... Ugh, vampire terminology is hard."

"Unpleasant dreams?" Flandre suggested. "So what were they about?"

"They keep going back to the day I became a vampire..." He explained. "Unlike my brother, I wasn't born as one. I was bitten by one of Dracula's servants. She just... Appeared, one day and bit me, and then she killed my mother right in front of me. Keep in mind, this is while my father was still human... But that didn't last for much longer. He gave in to Dracula's power and tore her apart, again, right in front of me. And unlike most of Dracula's minions, I haven't seen her since."

"What was her name?" She wondered.

"Carmilla." He answered. "She apparently knew that this would bring Dracula back, and that she wouldn't get away with it, but she was willing to make that sacrifice."

"Nobody should ever have to see something like that." Flandre placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We should go out somewhere, and maybe take your mind off things."

"That'd be great." He nodded. "I mean, I've been in Gensokyo for about a month now, and I've hardly explored the place at all. Let's get going."

* * *

><p>"I know just the place!" Flandre claimed. "Just... Don't tell anyone we were here, okay?"<p>

"I thought you could go wherever you wanted now?" Ivan raised an eyebrow. "As long as I'm here to make sure nothing gets out of hand, everything should be fine."

"But this is a holy place..." She explained. "A shrine, to be exact. Not a very well maintained one, but..."

"Well then maybe we should..."

Before he could finish, Ivan could hear what seemed to be two people arguing from the shrine, as well as one hapless person caught in the middle. As he had come to expect from Gensokyo, all of these voices seemed to be female. As a matter of fact, one of them belonged to... Demo?

"Stupid bootleg horse!" She cried. "Always trying to get me killed, or 'accidentally' throwing me off a cliff, or switching my toothpaste with a competing brand! You know how much I hate competing brands of toothpaste!"

"Your arguments aren't making any sense!" The other girl retorted. "I'm trying to reach an understanding between the two of us here, and you're still rattling off nonsense!"

"Miss Rumia... Miss Demo..." The third voice pleaded. "I won't ask you to stop arguing... But could you please do it elsewhere? I really have to get this place cleaned."

"Stay out of this, Rubbermaid!" Demo instructed. "This is between me and that freakin'..."

"Don't call me a horse again!" Rumia interrupted. "And Ruukoto, I'll gladly leave, though it may be a while before you're rid of _her_."

"We'd better get going too." Flandre decided. "When Demo and Rumia get into a fight, it isn't pretty."

"Yeah..." Ivan nodded. "I wish I'd known sooner."

They turned around, but before they could leave they heard a rustle of wings followed by a loud thumping sound. They turned around again to find a creature wearing what appeared to be a robe made from black feathers, with large blue wings on each side of its body, and a group of crows surrounding its feet.

Ivan knew this creature very well. Its name was Malphas.

* * *

><p>"I've found you now..." Shaft gave a menacing grin as he watched the spectacle from afar. "...Kid Dracula."<p>

* * *

><p>AN: This is to make up for Kokoro and Hanafuuma killing all the castle bosses offscreen.


	21. Death Ballad

"Listen carefully, Malphas." Ivan demanded. "I don't know why or how you came here, but I suggest you leave as quickly as possible before you're completely destroyed. Do you understand?"

Malphas ignored this completely, assuming a defensive stance and letting out an ear-piercing squawk.

"Whoa there, Charlie!" Demo jumped in shock. "Somebody is being eaten alive and/or having dinner back there!"

"Well then we'd better go and help them!" Rumia concluded. "Ruukoto, you stay here."

"Of course." The robotic shrine maiden nodded weakly.

Demo and Rumia climbed into a bush behind Malphas and quickly leapt out again, each of them giving an equally ridiculous battle cry as they unleashed a barrage of projectiles in the demon's general direction. Malphas spread its wings open in order to catch most of the projectiles, absorbing them harmlessly before returning its attention to Ivan and Flandre.

"This must be the problem!" Demo reasoned. "A crow demon! Now you have to watch out for crows, Rumia, because they are not cats at all!"

"I'll try and keep that in mind." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Demo!" Flandre greeted. "Would you like to watch me totally annihilate this thing?"

"Not before I get a chance to beat it!" Demo laughed.

"So Flandre..." Ivan whispered. "What kind of unique abilities does Demo have?"

"She can reverse time..." She shrugged. "But she hardly ever uses that. She considers it to be cheating. Oh, and she can also fly shoot small fireballs from her eye. But pretty much everyone in Gensokyo can do that to some effect."

Although Flandre's explanation lead Ivan to believe that Demo would only be useful in emergencies, the cycloptic girl quickly proved otherwise by leaping into the air in a spinning motion and landing atop Malphas' head as she continued to spin like a drill.

"This one always works!" She grinned. "And if it doesn't, then I usually emerge unharmed."

She bounced off of the demon's head and inspected the damage done. She smiled when she realized that her attack was much more effective than she expected it to be, though this smile quickly faded when she realized that Malphas was preparing what appeared to be a devastating attack. The demon began to hover in the air, crows surrounding it like a force field as four absurdly sharp feathers emerged from underneath its wings and flew towards each of its opponents.

"This is getting boring now." Rumia allowed a feather to fly harmlessly into a black void she'd created. "Flandre, if you will?"

"Fine..." She muttered. "And just when it was getting good, too..." She clenched her fist, and in mere seconds the demon before them exploded into a storm of feathers.

"We'd better be going now." Ivan decided. "But if this thing managed to find its way here, then any other creature from Dracula's castle could be on its way here too. You guys will let us know if something like that happens, won't you?"

"You can count on us!" Demo smiled. "Right, Rumia?"

"Right..." She nodded. "We'll... Keep an eye out."

"Just one?" Demo glared. "You can do better than that! You can do twice as great!"

* * *

><p>AN: If all of my stories updated themselves, I'd probably still write this one regardless.


	22. Dim Dream

"Remilia!" Flandre rushed into the Mansion, Ivan following closely behind. "We found a creature from Dracula's castle, and we think there could be more on the way!"

Remilia poked her head out of a doorway. "Where was it?" She inquired. "Come to think of it, where have you been the past couple of hours? It's almost 5AM!"

"Well..." Flandre nervously pressed her fingertips together. "We... I kind of took Ivan to..."

"It was my idea." He interrupted. "I saw the Hakurei Shrine, and I suggested that we go there."

"You're trying to keep her out of trouble." Remilia noted dryly. "That's adorable. But what's really important here is the monster you found. What do you think we should do?"

"We can probably handle things as it is." Ivan shrugged. "But we should probably warn everybody about them all the same."

"Warn them?" Marisa made herself, and her incredibly excited grin, visible. "This is a great opportunity for me! I haven't had a real challenge since... My first battle with Flandre, I think?"

"I'm flattered." She giggled. "But these are some seriously dangerous monsters we're dealing with here."

Remilia nodded. "These creatures, unlike most of the people you'll find in Gensokyo, will not hold back. They will stop at nothing to destroy you completely. Right now, you're a ghost." She moved her arm straight through the maid to demonstrate her point. "What's next? Could even the great Queen Mima bring you back from a second death?"

"I don't know!" Marisa's smile refused to disappear. "That's why this is so exciting! I think we can all agree that everything's been so boring since Reimu died. So I'm not going to let an opportunity like this one slip away!"

"We really should've let her come with us to the castle." Remilia muttered.

"Hey there, guy!" Demo suddenly kicked the front door open. "We've got a huge problem on our han..." She glanced from side to side. "...Toes! No wait, I don't have those either... Give me a minute here."

Rumia muttered irritably yet unintelligibly as she suddenly climbed out of Demo's shadow. "Basically, there are two monsters on a rampage nearby. And they're both much bigger than the last one."

Without a moment of hesitation, Ivan rushed outside to see the monsters in question.

"Well, this is going to be annoying." He sighed. "It's Koranot, the golem. And Frankenstein's monster. Both at once."

* * *

><p>AN: After these two, it's the Graveyard Duck.


	23. The Girl's Secret Room

"No, wait, I've got it!" Demo rushed outside excitedly. "We've got a huge problem... In our hair! Yes! That sounds like a thing that normal people would say! By the way, Wolfenstein 3D and the Rockbiter are casually destroying the world and everything good inside back there."

"Welcome to three seconds ago." Rumia sighed. "Are you gonna help out or just rattle off stupid non-sequiturs?"

"Can't I do both?" She grinned.

"Okay, so there's something you should all know about these two before we begin:" Ivan captured everybody's attention. "They don't have any weak points. It's going to take forever, but we'll just have to keep attacking them until they die."

"So it's going to be simple, but not _too _easy." Marisa noted. "Got it. Just... Try and keep them occupied while I prepare my attack, okay?"

"We don't really have any other option..." Remilia shrugged. "Just make sure you don't do something amazing but impractical."

Meanwhile, Demo was furiously kicking at Frankenstein's Monster as she tried desperately not to lose her balance.

"Eat that boot, Yahoo Serious!" She cried. "Or do I have to feed you to the thwomp over there? How do you like that bananas?"

The Creature casually swatted her aside and advanced towards Ivan, who seemed to be preparing a small cluster of fireballs.

"Let's see you dodge these..." He tossed them into the air and watched half of them circle around the Creature's head and half of them around Koranot's head. The two behemoths watched in confusion before suddenly noticing that the fireballs were getting closer and closer before finally colliding.

"Okay, that was pretty impressive." Marisa found herself admitting. "But now I'm ready to show off my attack! I just have to concentrate my mind... Aim at someone I don't like... And..." She screamed triumphantly as she unleashed her trademark 'Master Spark' for the first time in millenia.

"You'd better be watching, Mima!" She called. "'Cause this is how you do it!"

"Um... Marisa?" Flandre tapped her on the shoulder. "It... Didn't quite work."

Marisa looked down towards the two monsters and cursed loudly. "See what happens when you don't fight anything for ten thousand years? You get stale! You have to keep..."

"It wasn't that." Ivan interrupted. "I _felt _the amount of raw power that went into that. It should've devastated them. Something's different from usual about these two."

"These two creatures have a specific weakness this time around." A girl unfamiliar to Ivan walked outside the mansion, though the others seemed to recognize her instantly. "And that weakness is water. The good news is that we can rely on the strongest fairy in Gensokyo to help us with this. The bad news is that even after thousands of years, Cirno _still _holds that title."

* * *

><p>AN: Me taking a break from writing is like a bear winning the sock lottery: There's nothing we can do with all these socks but nail them to the wall and pretend they're hunting trophies.


	24. Adventures of the Lovestruck Tomboy

"Just a minute here..." Ivan was aware that this wasn't the best of times to ask questions, but he still felt that some answers were necessary. "Who are you, and who's Cirno?"

"My name is Patchouli Knowledge." She introduced herself as quickly as possible. "I am the mansion's librarian, which is why you haven't seen me until now. Cirno... Well, you'll find out soon enough." She flew away to the lake, the others quickly following.

* * *

><p>Cirno woke up with a start as she suddenly realized that something very important was transpiring not too far away.<p>

"I'm under attack!" She declared. "This won't do at all! I have to go out there and stop this threat all by myself!" She rushed outside and somehow managed to bump into Marisa's intangible ghost.

"Morning, Nineball." The maid greeted nonchalantly. "How'd you like to be useful for once?"

Cirno took a moment to check who, besides Marisa, was visiting her this early. "There's a catch, isn't there?" She insisted. "Let me just check with Suwako first."

"Suwako?" Ivan turned to Remilia in search of answers.

"Oh, yeah." She nodded. "For some reason, Cirno's currently under the protection of a god. We have no idea _what _happened between them, especially seeing how they were constantly at each other's throats before the incident."

"Is there a problem here?" Suwako materialized into the room, but Ivan's attention was drawn solely to her bizarre cross-eyed hat.

"Cirno here has a virus!" Demo answered. "She should really take better care of her computer. I mean, this is the laws of physics in athropy, you know? You just put it all together, put a bowl, mix it with a wooden spoon, make sure it's made of wood... I dunno, kick it for about three or four hours, and there you go, bing bang, there's a duck! You can call it mike, if you want."

"She's lying." Rumia dismissed through gritted teeth. "Basically, two monsters are rampaging through Gensokyo as we speak, and they both happen to be vulnerable to water."

"And you didn't think to just have Flandre take care of it?" Both Suwako and her hat raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I've been trying to tone that down recently." Flandre scratched her head bashfully. "Long story short, it didn't work once, and I spent the rest of the battle being a gibbering wreck. I don't want to take that risk again."

"I see..." She nodded thoughtfully. "But Cirno only deals with ice. If the monsters are only weak to water like you say, then we'll obviously need someone to melt it."

"That won't be a problem." Ivan held his palm open and displayed a fireball. "So, will you hel..."

Before he could finish, a loud crashing noise could be heard from outside. They had been found again.

"I'm under attack!" Cirno declared. "This won't do at all! I have to go out there and stop this threat all by myself!" She flew upwards so that her face was level with those of the monsters. Without a moment's planning, she formed a cluster of icicles and cast them towards the enemies, only for them to melt unexpectedly. Regardless, the projectiles continued to travel towards their intended targets and collided rather anticlimactically. Regardless, both creatures showed signs of near-defeat. Frankenstein's monster collapsed to its knees as electrical sparks fell from its body like a fish shedding scales, while Koranot slowly eroded away into a shapeless rock.

"I did it!" The ice fairy cheered. "I succeeded at winning!"

"You did." Suwako placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly. "And you didn't even need my help with it. I'm very proud of you."

* * *

><p>Shaft was still watching them. And he didn't like what he saw.<p>

"I suppose there's no other option." He muttered. "I didn't want to have to bring _her _into it, but she's the only one who can do anything now."

* * *

><p>AN: This thing now has a TV Tropes page. I'm hoping for someone to add some of the more subjective tropes there.


	25. The Silence of the Daylight

"Okay, now they're just toying with us." Remilia peered out of the window for what felt like the hundredth time that week. "Someone or something summoned three monsters in a row to get rid of us, and then it just decides to _wait_?" She collapsed onto the couch behind her and sighed loudly. "They're toying with us." She repeated. "There's nothing else to it."

"Are you okay, Ivan?" Flandre felt that her boyfriend was being unusually silent in regards to the situation.

Ivan looked back at her and paused before finally speaking.

"They're not toying with us." He dismissed. "Obviously, each monster we face will be progressively stronger than the last. And because of that, the next one will need a lot of power to summon."

This suggestion was met with a more universal silence.

"He's right." Patchouli broke the silence. "I can't imagine _what _they're summoning, but it's definitely not something to be taken lightly."

"Very well." Remilia nodded. "Marisa!"

"Lady Remilia!" Marisa materialized into the room. "What can I do for you?"

"Will Mima be available within the next week?" She inquired. "We may be in need of her assistance."

"Yeah, that should be okay." The ghost nodded. "Why, is there another monster already?"

"Not yet." Patchouli dismissed. "But chances are we'll be seeing one soon. It could be anywhere from a week away to right n..."

Before she could finish, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get that." Ivan decided. "Just in case."

He cautiously made his way downstairs, hoping deep down that Demo had just come to pay another visit.

But what he found at the door terrified him more than any monster that this unknown enemy could have summoned.

* * *

><p>"Geez, what's taking him so long just to answer the door?" Marisa peered impatiently down the stairway. "Unless it's... No. No matter who's at the door, there's no excuse for him to be taking this lo..." She froze as soon as she approached the front door.<p>

Ivan was holding the door open, even though there was clearly nobody there, and his mouth and eyes were both wide open.

"Ivan?" She tilted her head. "Ivan!"

"Find her..." He murmured. "She's already here... Please... Find her and kill her..."

"Who?" Marisa demanded. "Who's already here?"

Ivan began to stutter incomprehensibly before finally giving an answer.

"...Carmilla."

* * *

><p>AN: A whole chapter, and Demo only receives a mention? This will not do! Excuse me while I go back and rewrite the whole thing.


	26. Reincarnation

"This is all going too well!" Carmilla smiled to herself as she wandered aimlessly through the mansion. "I honestly don't know why Shaft didn't consider me sooner!"

"Excuse me!" A voice unfamiliar to her called irritably. "I do believe vampires are unable to enter a building without invitation. What are you doing here?"

"I knocked, didn't I?" She smirked as she turned to face Remilia. "And the door was opened for me. If I was uninvited, then don't you think they would have closed it again before I could enter?"

"What have you done to Ivan?" Remilia threateningly held a fireball in her open palm.

"Recently? Well, I said 'hello'." She rolled her eyes as she caught the fireball. "But other than that, only..."

"_Who dares to invoke the wrath of the ghost queen_?"

Remilia couldn't help but smile. "You never could resist needless drama. Good evening, Mima."

"Good evening." She said. "Now, _do I have to repeat myself_?"

"Oh, my..." Carmilla said. "The queen of vampires versus the queen of ghosts! Now's when things get _really _interes..."

"Hey there, everyone!" Demo burst out of Carmilla's shadow. "Did you barge in here without permission? That is 'no way, sir'!"

"Speaking of which, Remilia..." Rumia emerged from the same shadow. "Sorry about that."

"Like I said." Carmilla continued. "Now's where things get _really _interesting!"

* * *

><p>"Flandre!" Marisa rushed towards the vampire in question with panic in her voice. "I think Ivan could use your help right now! Something about the bitch who killed his parents!"<p>

"Carmilla?" Flandre grabbed her by the collar. "She's here?"

Marisa gave a weak nod.

"Then what are you waiting for?" She all but screamed. "Kill her! I know you're more than capable!"

"It's okay, I called Mima to take care of it!" Marisa said. "If you don't think that's enough, I'll be right there, but the point is that Ivan seriously needs you right n..."

And with that, Flandre was out of the room.

* * *

><p>"Ivan!" Flandre called.<p>

"Flandre?" Ivan turned towards her, a blank stare on his face. He reached out to her, and as soon as she was close enough, he was clinging desperately to her.

"Flandre..." He breathed. "She's here... I saw her..."

"I know." She said. "And our best friends are fighting her right now. But we need _you_."

"I..." He stuttered. "I don't think I can..."

"Why do you think she didn't kill you?" Flandre said. "She knew how strong you could be... How strong you are now... And she thought she could use that to her advantage. Now, things have changed. She knows there's no hope of bringing you to her side. There's nothing stopping you from getting your revenge except that cheap psychological crap she's pulling. As soon as she loses that, she's as good as dead!"

Ivan nodded understandingly as he finally let go of her. "You're right." He nodded. "If Dracula can tear her to shreds in a minute, and I can tear _him _to shreds in seconds... She doesn't stand a chance."

* * *

><p>AN: And then he tore her to shreds THE END.


	27. Dwelling of Doom

"Carmilla!" Ivan called furiously. "Show yourself, and if you're lucky I _might_ kill you quickly!"

"Now that's more like it." Carmilla calmly turned away from the others and made her way to the main hall. "It's nice to see you behaving more like your father."

"Dracula is _not _my father!" Ivan said. "He is nothing to me!"

"Well in that case, _you__'__re _nothing." She said. "If you're not the Son of Dracula, then you're not important at al..."

Just as she was about to finish, Flandre punched her in the face.

"_He __is __to __me_!" She said.

Carmilla's eyes slowly narrowed as she held her hand to her cheek in shock. "How dare you... How _dare_ you?"

A mysterious field suddenly surrounded her, keeping anybody from touching her as she reached behind her back and produced what appeared an eerie theater mask just in time for the others to arrive on the scene.

Demo gasped loudly. "Isn't that... The Mask of the Seven?"

"The mask of how many?" Rumia said, immediately regretting the fact that she just asked Demo a question and bracing herself for more inane rambling.

"Well, there are these seven demons..." She began. "And I think, on another plane of existence... The Mashed Potato Kingdom, or something like that... there are these seven horses... And the demons want to possess the horses for some reason... I'd probably understand much better if I spoke mashed potato. Maybe they think eleven Horsemen of the Apocalypse would be scarier than four? Eleven seems like one of those numbers that'd show up everywhere in a story you read, but at the end it serves no purpose other than symbolism... Oh, and that mask has something to do with all of it."

Rumia blinked for what felt like the first time all day before turning back to face Carmilla. "Is any of this true?"

"That sounds about right." She nodded. "Well, at the very least, one part of it. It was certainly more entertaining than what _actually_ happened. But I'm wasting time here." She put on the mask, causing the field to gather below her and assume the shape of a large, dark grey skull as she floated upwards and began to ride atop the skull.

Ivan wasn't at all impressed.

He decided to show just how unimpressed he was by charging a very large fireball and tossing it in her direction. The skull seemed to absorb most of the damage from this, but Carmilla still let out a screech of pain and fell to the ground.

"Well, well..." Mima smirked as she grabbed a scythe that had appeared next to her from out of thin air. "So much for 'Queen of Vampires'. The 'King' must be so disappointed."

Carmilla grit her teeth as she slowly returned to her feet. "I won't fail Lord Dracula..." She muttered defiantly to herself. "Even if I have to destroy this entire land... None of you will make it out alive _or_ undead!" She began to prepare another fireball, but before she could finish she found Mima's scythe lodged forcefully into her chest. Within moments, she was nothing more than a pile of ashes.

* * *

><p>"So that was Carmilla..." Marisa lay back and sighed. "To think that after everything that happened today, we're still no closer to finding out who's behind this..."<p>

"Not at all." Ivan said. "Considering what Dracula did to Carmilla ten thousand years ago, it'd be nearly impossible to bring her back. To do it, you'd have to be a _ridiculously _powerful necromancer. And I know exactly who..."

"I think I overheard her mention his name earlier." Remilia interrupted. "His name wouldn't happen to be 'Shaft', would it?"

"You're damn right." Demo said.

Ivan looked at them both. "...Yes, that's him. Now all we have to do is find him."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that." Shaft materialized into the room. "You should probably focus more on your imminent destruction."

* * *

><p>AN: At this rate, I'll never get this arc done in time for the Christmas Special; "It's a Wonderful Undeath!"


	28. Tues Dues Mues

"Shaft..." Ivan muttered disgustedly. "Under any other circumstances, I'd probably just kill you and get it over with. But considering how a few hours ago, you resurrected Carmilla of all people... You won't be so lucky."

"Aren't you forgetting something, Ivan?" Mima smiled confidently. "He's just a ghost! He's only here because I'm allowing it! I'll just banish him to the afterlife again and this will all be over with!"

She demonstrated by snapping her fingers, and with that Shaft simply seemed to disappear.

...Only to quickly reappear with a protective barrier surrounding him.

"I think not." He said. "Now, if you could just tell me where you've hidden Carmilla's ashes."

"You're out of luck!" Marisa taunted. "We scattered them all over Gensokyo!"

Shaft thought about this for a moment and then chuckled to himself. "You wouldn't risk that." His laughter became louder. "If a single drop of blood came into contact with one of those ashes, then she'd be reborn in the exact same place where she was killed. And I know that at least one of you isn't that stupid. So obviously, you're keeping them all in one place somewhere. So tell me; _Where__ are __you __keeping __them_?"

Ivan smirked defiantly. "If you want them, you'll have to find them yourself." He said, conjuring a fireball in each of his open palms. "But first, you have to go through every single one of us." He tossed the flames towards Shaft's barrier, creating a rather large crack but failing to destroy it completely.

Demo claimed the next move, jumping towards the orb whilst spinning like a drill only to bounce violently off of it.

"Welp..." She tried to nurse the bruise on her head by gently rubbing it against the wall responsible for it. "That bubble has opinions. Someone ought to send it a postcard with a picture of a bunny on it, with the caption, 'wish you were hare'."

Marisa hovered upwards so that she was level with the necromancer. "Oh, I'll send the _hell_out of that postcard!" She produced the Mini-Hakkero from her pocket and muttered tenderly to it, unleashing the Master Spark shortly afterwards and completely devastating the barrier.

"It looks like this is the end for you..." Rumia advanced menacingly towards Shaft the very moment he landed helplessly on the ground. "When you sit down and think about it, you should be thankful." She raised both of her arms, an orb of pure darkness appearing above them. "After all, we're allowing you to reunite with Dracula... In Hell!"

Shaft made no attempt to resist as the shadow consumed him. Within moments, his body was completely gone, and yet his voice could still be heard.

"You're absolutely right..." He started laughing again. "I should be thankful that you've killed me. In doing so, you've completed the final stage of my latest ritual!"

"You're bluffing!" Remilia said. "There's no way you'd be able to summon Dracula again so soon!"

"Who said anything about Dracula?" Despite his status as a disembodied voice, it was fairly obvious to everyone that he would be wearing a malicious grin were he still here. "You've helped me summon somebody far more powerful than Dracula..."

A glowing pentagram suddenly appeared on the floor, capturing everyone's attention but especially Demo's. But before anybody had time to ask what was going on, an angelic figure appeared atop the pentagram. But as its details became clearer, 'angelic' became less and less of an appropriate description.

Shaft's laughter grew into insane cackling, despite the sound of his voice beginning to fade away.

"He is complete!" He cried triumphantly. "Satan walks this earth once again!"

* * *

><p>AN: For those of you who haven't realized yet, the Christmas special is happening as its own separate thing. Go read it.


	29. At Doom's Gate

Satan glanced over the people staring at him, each of them frozen with fear, and rolled his eyes.

"None of you are worth my time." He said. "If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to in Heaven."

An uncomfortable silence followed after he seemingly faded into nothingness. Eventually, Demo broke the silence by laughing uproariously.

"And what's so funny this time?" Rumia snapped. "Do you know what he could do up there?"

"Do you?" She retorted. "He doesn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell up there! Heaven's where all the Belmonts are!"

Ivan's eyes widened. "Demo, it's _scary_ when you're right."

"I guess I'd better go check on them." Mima began to vanish, only to reappear shortly afterwards with a figure beside her that no one had expected to see as a ghost.

"Reimu?" Marisa gasped. "Where've you been the last ten thousand years? Mima and I searched every afterlife for you!"

"Not until just now, you didn't!" She retorted. "Seriously, where else could I go but Heaven? It was pretty much the only afterlife that I hadn't nearly destroyed at some point in my life!"

"But you didn't even know who Jesus was last time I met you!" Rumia said. "It must have been pretty awkward to walk up to the most powerful God in any pantheon and ask who he is!"

"It was..." She said. "But as you know, he's a very forgiving God. But we're getting off topic here! The point is, that I need your help!"

Demo's eye shifted back and forth. "Um, whose?"

"All of you!" Reimu signalled for Mima to transport them all, but before she could do so the mansion's front doors burst open.

"Ivan!" Kokoro called. "I came as soon as I could. Is Satan here?"

"You just missed him." He answered. "We were just about to go after him. How did you find us, anyway?"

"Alucard told us everything." Gesshi answered. "He woke up when he felt Satan's power and he came over to warn us, then he guided us here."

"It's been a long time, Ivan." Alucard made himself visible.

"It has." He nodded. "There'll hopefully be time for reunions later. Mima, are you ready?"

"I _died_ ready!" She smiled confidently as she spread her arms out, creating a bright flash of light as she did so.

As Ivan opened his eyes, he was met with a blinding light. He quickly realized that he was experiencing daylight for the first time in thousands of years, though he remembered that he didn't have time to celebrate when he saw a ruined golden city several yards away.

"Queen Mima, you're back!" An angel hurriedly approached them. "Satan's currently busy fighting the Belmonts, but they could really use your help!"

Alucard drew his sword. "Then there's no time to waste. Is everyone ready for this?"

Demo's eye narrowed. "Oh, I'm as ready as a bag of eggs."

* * *

><p>AN: Join us next chapter when something actually happens!


	30. New Messiah

Satan groaned disgustedly as he noticed that the people he had spared earlier were still insistent on fighting him.

"I see now." He muttered. "Those must be the current generation of vampire hunters."

"Do you really think you can stand up to _every_ generation of them?" Simon Belmont threw a cross towards him. "You should really just give up before the Archangels arrive." He caught the cross as it came back to him.

"That reminds me..." Remilia's attention briefly turned to one of the angels. "Where's God during all this? Wouldn't this be over a lot quicker with His help?"

"God is busy ensuring that there are no casualties." He answered. "But, should all hope be lost, He will definitely come to our aid."

"You are simply deluding yourselves!" Satan laughed. "Your so-called 'God' is busy cowering from me, for he knows that I've already won!"

Richter responded to this taunt not with words, but with his whip. It had taken him a long time to admit it, but he was never any good at debating with ancient evils.

Ivan, on the other hand, was much more confident in his arguing ability.

"If you're so confident in your superiority, then why are you having so much trouble with us?" He said. "If you're so much better than God, then why don't you prove it?"

Satan grinned menacingly as he grabbed Ivan by the throat, casually ignoring Julius' attempts to have him released. "An excellent proposal..." A snake-like tongue appeared between his teeth. "You appear to possess the greatest power here, so I'll begin my demonstration of superiority with you..."

"Put our son down, right now!"

Ivan turned his head excitedly to see not only his father Soma, but also Mina, his mother. Both appeared to be carrying a sword glowing with power, and Mina wore attire indicating that she had become an angel.

"You must both think you're very intimidating." Satan began to tighten his grip on Ivan's throat. "When a parent is trying to protect their child, they think they're unstoppable. Allow me to..." He stopped as he noticed that Ivan was laughing at him.

"Stop that!" He demanded. "Stop that this instant, or you die!"

Ivan was barely able to speak. "You really... Don't know... Anything about vampires... Do you? We don't... Have to breathe!"

"I see..." Satan threw him down to the ground and raised his arms into the air, a large wooden cross appearing beside him. "Perhaps I should try a more... _traditional_ method..." He pointed towards the cross, and Ivan was suddenly drawn towards it, four wooden stakes keeping his limbs in place. The others tried to intervene, but for some reason found themselves frozen in place.

"You consider yourself to be a messiah to these people..." Satan grinned as a fifth stake appeared in his hand. "So now, you shall die the way a messiah would!" He threw the stake into Ivan's heart, finally silencing his cries of pain as he collapsed into a pile of ash. Satan crouched down next to the ashes and blew them away, scattering them all across heaven.

* * *

><p>Ivan groaned to himself as he woke up on an infinite featureless plane, the only other figure with him being a robed skeleton with a wooden stake lodged between two of its ribs.<p>

"Ivan Cruz?" It forcefully grabbed his hand. "You have a meeting scheduled with the Head Death."

* * *

><p>AN: Speaking of which, the Christmas special is no longer canon.


	31. The Lullaby

To many people, the five stages of grief were recognized as denial, then anger, after which came bargaining, followed by depression and finally acceptance.

As far as Flandre was concerned, however, there were only two stages of grief, the first of which was shock, and the second being rage.

"Everyone, stand back." She growled. "That way, none of you will get hurt."

Remilia looked at her pleadingly. "Flandre, please think about this for a moment..."

"I said _stand__ back_!" She screamed. Once they'd finally complied, she reached into her dress and, much to everyone's shock, produced the Mask of the Seven. She displayed a disconcerting smile as she put on the mask and began to assume the very same form Carmilla had when she had worn the mask.

Satan was only slightly impressed.

"If you are to gain such an advantage, then so am I." He decided, suddenly pointing a glowing finger towards Demo. "Awaken, servant of Rao!"

Demo's eye narrowed as it suddenly changed hue from gold to blood red. "I am awake, master."

"Demo?" Rumia looked at her in disbelief. "Demo, this is no time for your silly..."

Demo interrupted by kicking her in the stomach.

"You may know Rao as 'the Golden Calf'." Satan grinned. "After Moses had it destroyed, it gained a place in Hell as the Icon of Heresy. Demo here is one of its disciples. Though I'm not sure what happened to her state of mind, it's nothing I can't fix."

Rumia tried to speak, but couldn't find a single word to express her shock.

"You'd already know this if you had actually bothered to _think _once in a while." Demo sneered. "The clue is in the name! I'm a demon! That's even how I introduced myself to you idiots! 'Demo the Armless Cycloptic Demon Alien Minion'! Though I guess I shouldn't expect any better from a 'stupid horse', or whatever it is I used to call you."

"Demo..." Rumia collapsed helplessly to her knees, tears almost completely covering her face. "This isn't you... Please come back..."

"I _am _back." She retorted. "This is who I really am. Try to get used to it before I kill you." A large fireball began to form in front of her.

* * *

><p>"Okay, so I'm dead." Ivan shrugged. "Can't you just send me back to Heaven? I'm kind of needed up there."<p>

"I know exactly what's going on in Heaven." Death said. "Which is why I can't allow anybody up there at the moment. Though perhaps if you're lucky, that infernal Queen Mima will come here for you."

"You don't get along with Mima?" Ivan raised an eyebrow.

The Reaper folded his arms in annoyance. "She exists solely to undo my hard work. What do you think?"

"I see." He decided to sit on whatever it was that gravity was drawing him towards. "So what can I do?"

"You can wait here until the battle's over." Death said. "_Or_, you can challenge me to a game of chess if you're feeling brave enough."

Ivan's eyes narrowed. "You're on."

* * *

><p>AN: Even when Demo's sanity is restored, she speaks in entire paragraphs.


	32. UN Owen Was Her?

When Ivan had been killed, Flandre immediately became consumed with rage and transformed into a monster.

She wasn't the only one.

"Soma...?" Mina reached out and grabbed her husband's shoulder.

"Stay back..." He warned. "I don't know how, but I think it's happening again."

"You don't mean..." She gasped. "No, Soma! You have to fight it!"

"I'm trying!" He grunted. "He's..." His eyes widened. "He's here..."

"Hello, Satan." Dracula greeted. "I'm here because you killed my son."

"Wait a minute..." Remilia looked back and forth between the two of them. "Shouldn't you be occupying Soma's body right now?"

"This _is_his body." Dracula said. "Over there is his soul. A soul can't be possessed, you imbecile. But this is all irrelevant." He cast a torrent of fireballs towards Satan, only for him to calmly let them hit him.

"It's nice to see you too, Count." He smirked. "This should make things much easier. Once I rule over both Heaven and Hell, I can set my sights on other afterlives. There's a space marine in Valhalla I've been wanting to see again for a wh..." He suddenly turned his head to find Flandre rushing towards him. "Demo, could you get that for me?"

Demo sighed irritably, the fireball in front of her disappearing. "I'll finish _you _later."

Rumia was too distressed to even breathe.

* * *

><p>Ivan stared with confusion at the chess board. "This is a joke, right?"<p>

Between him and Death was a board three tiles across and three tiles down, with a king on each side.

"This is how I play against everyone." The reaper explained. "We stay in this stalemate until they eventually surrender."

"And if they don't?"

"The longest I've had to wait for someone to surrender is two hundred years." He said. "I have all of eternity for them to do so."

"And what happens when someone like Simon Belmont challenges you?" Ivan wondered. "Someone who could _force_you to surrender?"

Death drew his scythe. "Well, that's not chess at all, is it?"

* * *

><p>"Oh, this should be easy..." Flandre smirked as a small flaming skull appeared in her open palm. "Hey Demo, catch!" She threw the skull.<p>

Demo rolled her eye as a vortex appeared in front of her, swallowing the skull. "You'll have to try harder than that if you want to destroy any hope of getting your best friend back."

Flandre paused only for a moment. "...Fuck you, I'm angry. I'll have time to regret killing you later, assuming I'm not too busy with the fact that Ivan's dead!"

"I see." Demo nodded. "Nothing matters to you anymore, so you're going to destroy everything until there's nothing left." She took a step back. "Go right ahead then."

* * *

><p>AN: Happy chapter 32! Now this story has as many chapters as DOOM II. And the Doomguy gets an allusion in this chapter! What a coincidence!


	33. Sent to the Devil's Requiem

Death had Ivan exactly where he wanted him. Within a few more minutes, this would all be over, and the vampire would have to accept his second, more permanent death.

"You hate Mima for bringing people back from the dead." Ivan mused. "But you're best friends with Dracula, who rules over an army filled with all kinds of undead creatures."

And with that, the reaper's guard went down.

"That's what I thought." He grinned, claiming his opponent's scythe. "Now, I suggest you surrender before you end up having to play chess against yourself."

"You think you can best me in my own domain?" Death laughed loudly.

"You _know_what I'm capable of." He glared. "It's funny. Back when I was 'Kid Dracula'," he made a disgusted face. "you always used to put me down. Said I was a 'good for nothing'. Didn't you ever think that if you kicked the dog too much, it might bite back?"

Death paused to think of an answer before suddenly looking very surprised. "It seems I'll have to get back to you later." He began to fade away. "Lord Dracula requires my assistance."

* * *

><p>The very moment Death appeared in Heaven, he suspected that whatever Dracula wanted from him wasn't going to be easy.<p>

This was quickly proven to be correct when Flandre grabbed him by the collar.

"You're just the person I've been wanting to see..." She growled. "Just bring Ivan back, and then I won't have to _quite __literally_ destroy everything."

Death glanced towards Dracula. "Is this why you called me here? To meet this child's demands?"

"If only it were that simple." The count rolled his eyes. "You should know already why you're here. It's the very same problem that's preventing you from allowing anybody up here."

"I should have known." The reaper phased through Flandre's grip. "But it seems this place is already very crowded as it is. I believe there's a far more simple solution to all of this." His gaze turned towards Simon Belmont.

"I don't like that look." Desmond said. "Mark my words, Death. If this plan of yours involves my son in the way I think it does, then you can go straight back to..."

"Be quiet." A spinning sickle suddenly appeared by Death's side. "I'm going to have to aim this _very_ carefully." He pointed in Simon's direction, causing the sickle to fly towards him. The vampire hunter tried to dodge, and in doing so the blade ran across his arm, causing his blood to spill on the floor.

"Exactly as planned." Death smirked. "Any moment now."

"And what exactly was the point of that?" Desmond roared. "What did you _possibly _hope to accomplish by..." He stopped as he noticed something moving beneath his feet. He looked down, and at first didn't see anything, though as he turned around, he noticed a pile of ashes gathering where Ivan was killed.

Flandre immediately stopped what she was doing.

"I am complete!" Ivan cried triumphantly. "And I'd like to thank whoever decided to resurrect me using the blood of Simon Belmont!" He turned towards Satan and began to charge a fireball.

"I feel like I could _quite__ literally_ destroy everything!"

* * *

><p>AN: Speaking of which, the Christmas special is now canon again.

…Wait, that thing's still going?


	34. My Thoughts

Hey there, everyone! This is Demo. Playing... P.o.D. No More or something like that?

Anyway, the thing about P.o.D. No More is that the P.o.D. does not stand for "pick of destiny", but also, that it's not quite a video game. Crazy, I know.

It's more like... It's more like a novella, that combines all your favorite video games. So in one corner, weighing in at hydrogen, you have Count Dracula's Punch-Out, and in the other corner, you have The Monsters Under Your Bed And In Your Closet Are Now Adorable Little Girls But They Shoot So Many Bullets That They're Quite Literally Everywhere. Or if you want to get on the ground floor of cool abbreviations, that's TMUYBAIYCANALGBTSSMBTTQLE. No, the word 'anal' is not hidden in there. What you're seeing is 'canal'. It's where the boats are, I think.

So anyway, in the third corner of this circle, I think you have one of the Duke Nukem games. Probably the Game Boy Color version, because when you think of Duke Nukem, you immediately think of that particular game on that particular system. That's what P.o.D. No More is like. It's like playing the second manliest game ever, on the Game Boy, in color. This'll all be in the test later, so be sure to take notes.

The second thing about this game is that I can never tell what's going on. But that's okay, because Rumia's often there to keep things up to date for me when she's not busy being a stupid freakin' bootleg horse.

But she doesn't seem to be here right now. But that's okay, because I know what's going on despite that.

What's going on right now, is that I'm lost.

If I had to describe where I was, I'd probably say "I don't know where I am, because I'm lost! Haven't you been paying attention?". But if I had to describe where I seemed to be, then I'd say it's an endless black void. And there's someone else with me, but I've only just noticed that so it probably wouldn't be part of my description two minutes ago.

Is that you Rumia?

"There you are... My less competent half."

You are not Rumia at all. I think I'd notice if I was half a horse. If I was, I'd rather be the front half.

"Be quiet. I'll try to make this quick. As soon as you're gone, it'll be much easier to focus."

Oh I see now! This is a battle in the center my mind!

"_My_ mind."

No, I'm pretty sure this is my mind. Look at all the cat planet cat planets!

"...What the hell?"

So you see, Mr. Horse's Rump, I think you might want to... I dunno, become a vegan. The funny thing is about vegans is that, one day, they walk up to you wearing a dress made of goat's cheese...

"Shut up!"

...So you're like, "Dude, you're a vegan! You should be wearing a dress made of banana peels.". And so the next day she walks up to you, and she's still wearing that goat's cheese dress, so you're about to call her out on it...

"I said shut up!"

...But instead she hands you three jellybeans. One's red, so obviously it tastes like strawberries. One's greenish yellowish brownish, so that one clearly tastes like apples. And the last one, the last one's blue. So it should be obvious by now that the blue one controls the multiverse. As well as the multiverse next door. It's one big happy neighborhood.

Oh hey, you're shooting at me with your eye-type beams, isn't that hilarious? You just sliiiiide to the right, and the laser, it has two provorbial left feet when it comes to the dance floor, so it doesn't slide with you, and instead it just rushes straight past your head, screaming all the way. Like a broom. The best thing about brooms is, that whenever someone mentions them, that means that it's my turn to shoot lasers from my eye! And so I shoot lasers from my eye! It's pretty complex, but you're sure to understand if I say it fifty times more.

A Horse's Ass doesn't sliiiiide to the right. It must have two provorbial left feet. This makes it the perfect dance-type partner for my laser beams! Maybe one day they'll get married and have mutant horsebutt-laser babies. Speaking of cute couples, Ivan Cruz and Flandre Scarlet. I just thought I'd mention those two because otherwise I wouldn't be playing P.o.D No More very well now, would I?

"You appear to be more trouble than I thought. It seems I will have to call upon Lord Rao himself if I wish to dispose of you."

Oh man! Everyone Lord Rao like it was 1599, the price of a regular LORD RAO!

"Hey there, everyone!"

And there he is right now. Hello Lord Rao!

"Hello Demo. And you are?"

"I am your true disciple! The one you created to carry out your dark orders!"

"Oh! In that case... Could I get some voluminous vegetal victuals, minion?"

"What?"

"I'm an oversized chrome bovine! I need vegetables every once in a while, or else I'll dehydrate!"

"Lord Rao... Not you too..."

"You know, I'm beginning to suspect that you're not really one of my minions!"

"I'm beginning to suspect that you are not my master."

"Me? I'm everyone's master! I'm Rao, the Icon of Heresy! Like a million years ago, people worshipped me! And now you will bow down to me or die!"

…

You still there, Rearquine?

"I refuse."

"Well then there we have it! It was nice knowing you, Squish Man, but it wasn't really nice at all."

And so Squish Man went squish.

So anyway, this was Demo, and until next time, remember to eat your soup, kids!

* * *

><p>"It's hopeless!" Demo cried. "Even with your most powerful ally revived, it's still..." Her eye's hue suddenly changed back to yellow. "...Going to take 25 days to write non-stop."<p>

Rumia lifted her head from the fetal position she'd been in for the past hour. "...Demo? Demo!"

"That's me!" She grinned. "The Ghost of Bovine Future has managed to re-lose my marbles, and now I'm ready to kick more p'tooie than ever!"

* * *

><p>AN: Everyone wants a chapter dedicated entirely to Demo.


	35. Opening to Hell

When Satan initially realized that Demo was no longer on his side, he thought that this would be a problem.

It was then he was Rumia clinging desperately to her, making both of them a burden for the others.

"Let go of me, stupid horse!" Demo cried. "Didn't you hear? I have p'tooie to kick!"

"I can't let go of you..." Rumia murmured. "If I let go, I'll lose you again..."

Flandre smirked confidently. "I'm okay with this. I'm pretty sure we can protect them and fight Satan at the same time. What do you think, Ivan?"

Ivan smiled back at her. "I was thinking the two of us could take him on while the others stood back and watched in awe!"

Alucard frowned. "That sounds awfully overconfident. You've already been killed once. Do you really want to face that again?"

He turned his head to see that the two of them were already fighting Satan, and he was honestly surprised to see how well they were doing. Flandre was able to block anything that came in their direction, and Ivan's attacks seemed to doing actual damage.

"I suppose you think you have the advantage now, even with hundreds of your allies casually dismissed." Satan growled. "What you don't realize is that I am not yet at my full power. I was hoping to save this form for no less than God himself, but nonetheless..." He began to float above the ground, both arms outstretched as his muscles began to bulge, his skin turning a dark shade of red, his angellic wings retracting only to be replaced by those of a bat, and his head transforming into that of former Dark Lord Eidolon, on whom all demons were based.

Ivan's smile refused to disappear. "So _that__'__s_ how you want to play, is it?" He imitated Satan's pose as he transformed into a beast that nobody could quite describe, eliciting a shudder from those who had seen it before.

Satan pointed his arms towards Ivan, casting wave after wave of fire towards him. Ivan retorted with the exact same attack, and it wasn't long before the two realized that they were evenly matched. Flandre attempted to intervene, though nothing she did could even make her opponent flinch, and eventually she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

_I__'__m_ _completely_ _alone_ _now__..._ Ivan realized. _Nobody_ _else_ _can_ _help_ _me_ _now__..._ _Not_ _even__..._

"This has gone on for far too long..."

Everybody turned their head towards the source of the voice.

"Hello again, Lucifer."

The Archangels Micheal and Gabriel stood proudly next to one another, each one carrying a sword that glowed brighter than every star in the universe.

"'Hello again' indeed..." Satan flew towards them. "Let's see if you two are still formidable opponents..."

* * *

><p>AN: I bet _everyone_ reading this has played Hexen. And to everyone reading who actually _has_ played it, how many of you have played the sequel?


	36. Final Confrontation

Ivan watched with excitement as Satan tried to fight both archangels at the same time, ready to intervene if he was needed.

"Aren't there a whole bunch of other archangels too?" Demo pondered. "I think there's a Raphael, and then there's a bunch of guys whose names all end in either 'iel' or 'okey the penguin'."

Rumia smiled as she tightened her grip on Demo. "I've missed these comments from you. A lot."

Satan unexpectedly turned towards the two. "Enjoy it while it lasts..." He grinned maliciously as he pointed a finger towards Demo, causing a bolt of lightning to fly towards her, killing her instantly.

"Demo!" Rumia and Flandre called simultaneously, the latter rushing towards her side as quickly as she could.

Satan laughed uproariously at his work, even as the archangels forcefully turned him around and continued to attack him.

.mih kcatta ot deunitnoc dna dnuora mih denrut yllufecrof slegnahcra eht sa neve ,krow sih ta ylsuoiraorpu dehgual nataS

.dluoc ehs sa ylkciuq sa edis reh sdrawot gnihsur rettal eht ,ylsuoenatlumis dellac erdnalF dna aimuR "!omeD"

.yltnatsni reh gnillik but she was easily able to dodge in time.

"What... Just happened?" Remilia asked.

"Oh, Remilia..." Sakuya laughed placed a hand on her shoulder, much to the vampire's surprise. "Even after all the time you and I have spent together, you don't recognize when time is being manipulated? Demo here has just managed to reverse time to the point before she was killed, and prevent it from happening as a result!"

"She can still do that?" Remila said, trying to resist the urge to do to Sakuya what Rumia had spent the last few minutes doing to Demo.

Just as she was about to give an answer, the two noticed that Satan had become very angry, and neither Ivan nor the archangels were having much luck in restraining him.

"This is getting tiresome now..." Dracula muttered. "I refuse to believe that there is nothing we can do to end this stalemate!"

And with that statement alone, Gesshi Hanafuuma had a brilliant idea.

"Kokoro!" She called. "Do you still have that thing with you?"

"'Thing'?" Kokoro raised an eyebrow. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Well Simon should know what I'm talking about then!" She said. "The Fifth, that is."

The Belmont in question turned towards them. "I'm not entirely sure, but do you mean the..."

"Yes, I mean the ring!" She answered impatiently. "Kokoro, do you still have that or not?"

"I think so..." She reached into her pocket and produced Satan's ring. "It'd be awfully embarrassing to lose something like this. So, what do you want me to..."

Gesshi quickly pointed to Ivan.

"Oh, I see now!" She nodded confidently as she threw the ring towards Ivan. "Ivan! Catch!"

Ivan caught the ring without even turning around, hastily sliding it onto his finger.

"Is that mine?" Satan sneered. "What kind of advantage do you expect _that_ to give you?"

Patchouli suddenly produced a very thick book and opened on a page seemingly at random. "Satan's Ring." She read aloud in total monotone. "Attack plus twenty, defense plus seventy, strength plus twenty, constitution plus twenty, and intelligence plus twenty." She closed the book and put it away. "It's no Ring of Varda, but it's still very impressive."

Satan froze completely before he felt Ivan throw a devastating punch at him, causing him to land painfully on his back. Before he could stand up, Ivan had grabbed him by the throat.

"You haven't... Won yet..." He gasped. "One day... I shall be back... And that day... Will be the last!"

Michael retorted to this threat by stabbing him through the chest, causing him to transform into a cloud of red smoke before dissipating completely.

"I guess that's it, then..." Ivan transformed back to normal. "We'd best be going now... Give me a call when Revelation happens, okay? I'd be glad to help out."

"Oh, we'll be more than ready when Revelation happens." Michael laughed. "But can't we persuade you to stay a while? I'm sure all of you have people here you miss dearly."

Ivan stopped in his tracks, his attention returning to Soma and Mina.

"That's a brilliant idea!" He said. "I'd love to!"

* * *

><p>AN: Whenever you're leaving somewhere, ask them to give you a call when Revelation happens.

* * *

><p>AN 2: THIS TIME IT'S NOT A/N 1: Sorry this is up so late. You know how stubborn this website can be sometimes.


	37. I am the Wind

If Demo had hands, she would most likely have had them proudly held on her hips at the moment.

"And so, all is well in Heaven, like it's supposed to be." She concluded. "After all, a Heaven without Heavenliness is about as bad as... Um... Rumia, while you're _still_ attached to me, help me think of an inappropriate analogy here!"

"Heaven without Heavenliness is almost as bad as Demo without Demoliness." Rumia sighed contently. "Have I ever told you that I love you?"

Demo looked up and hummed thoughtfully. "Recently? No. Ever? No. Back while you were wearing that stupid bow on your head, which was before ever, because that's just how ancient history works?" She paused. "...Actually, you may have said something like that then..."

"I've already told you that wasn't me." She said. "That was just a mask... Just like..." She shuddered as tears began to reappear in her eyes.

"Whoa there, Charlie!" Demo returned the embrace the best she could by nestling her head against Rumia's shoulder. "I'm not a mask! And if I am, then nobody's wearing me. I'm like, that disembodied pair of pants that you find in every graveyard. The one that walks up to you and says, 'hey, I'm gonna punch you in the face', but of course it can't, so you end up feeling really sorry for it and you, you know, you give it a shoe. And I'm sure that if we weren't doing this 'I love you' thing right now, then you'd say that's not true at all, to which I say, then where are my shoes?"

"Where indeed." Rumia laughed. "But like you said, that's not what we're doing now. We're doing that 'I love you' thing. I love you, Demo. Do you love me?"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Demo moved back, but at the same time made sure that Rumia didn't let go of her. "I was actually serious about that part? Well then..." She hesitated before finally nodding. "Yes, Rumia. I love you. And that's pretty much the one serious statement you'll ever get out of me... More than once, anyway."

Dracula watched the two from afar and sighed irritably. If he were anyone else - anyone at all - he might have shed a tear. But as the Dark Lord, he had a reputation to uphold.

"Vlad... You've certainly changed, haven't you?"

Dracula quickly turned around to find himself looking his long-dead wife Lisa in the eyes. He began to stutter the first syllable of her name as tears flowed freely down his face, until finally he went silent. After a pause, he spoke more clearly.

"Lisa... I never thought I'd see you again."

"This may be the last time..." She said. "...Which is why this is so difficult for me."

His eyes widened slightly. "What is?"

"Vlad..." She breathed. "During your undeath... Especially after you fought against Adrian in 1797... You've done things that not even I can forgive..."

Dracula felt as though his heart had been torn out, and even checked to make sure that this wasn't the case. He remembered 1797, particularly the vow he made to Lisa that year, and how he'd created the Chaos Ring shortly afterwards in order to better resist the urges that being Dark Lord brought.

And yet still he chose to destroy.

"And don't think I don't know about Zeleska, your half-succubus daughter." She continued. "I'm sorry, Vlad. I couldn't keep my promise to you..."

Dracula simply remained silent. Everyone he'd loved had turned on him, and the only thing he wanted to do now was return to Hell and spend a century or two alone.

"No..." He sobbed. "_I__'__m_ sorry... Farewell, Lisa..." He lowered his head and disappeared before she could reply.

Alucard cringed, unable to help but feel sorry for his parents as they finally separated for good.

"This is why humans and vampires shouldn't be involved..." He muttered.

"Oh, Adrian..." A voice behind him chuckled. "I really hope you don't mean that."

Alucard, like his father before him, turned as soon as he recognized the voice, which is to say instantly. "Sonia!" He rushed over and hugged her.

Sonia Belmont smiled warmly as she accepted the embrace. "I've missed you, Adrian. We all have."

"All...?" He glanced over her shoulder to find a plethora of familiar faces behind her, amongst whom Trevor Belmont stood out in particular. "I see. Yes, I've missed you all as well."

Trevor could do little but smile. "I've been waiting for this moment. To finally see both of my parents together."

Alucard stuttered incoherently as he tried to think what he was going to say next, but he was quickly silenced when someone ran up behind him and added themselves to his and Sonia's embrace.

"There's no need to worry, Alucard!" Maria laughed. "We all know what happened between you and Sonia. You should be proud to be an ancestor to every Belmont."

"Should I?" He retorted. "I'd like you to imagine things from Trevor's perspective. Not only was he forced to go through childhood with just one parent, but when he finally met with his father, he was completely oblivious, and the two were separated after a mere few hours, during which they treated each other as nothing more than acquaintances."

Trevor placed a hand on his shoulder. "Father... While it's true that I was angry when I first found out about this... That was thousands of years ago. I've come to understand why you did what you did, and I've forgiven you. And I think that you should forgive yourself as well."

Alucard paused to think about this, but only briefly. "You're right." He concluded. "Thank you, Trevor... My son..."

"Awwww..." Maria smiled warmly. "Hey Trevor, if you think your arms are long enough, feel free to join this group hug, ok?"

* * *

><p>AN: OKAY YOU GUYS ZELESKA IS NOT A SUE SHE'S FROM ONE OF THE CLASSIC UNIVERSAL MOVIES

Dammit, I shouldn't have to split epilogues into multiple parts like this! If not for Demo's chapter, this chapter alone might be longer than the entire arc!


	38. Eastern Wind

"So..." Marisa giggled slightly. "I guess it's just us three again. Like old times."

"Like old times." Mima nodded. "A good portion of which I missed, but... When was the last time we got together like this?"

"I think it was during the Ghost Wars." Reimu said. "Those were fun... Well, except when Marisa died."

"That wasn't so bad..." The ghost in question shrugged. "If I hadn't died there, then Mima probably wouldn't have been so desperate to win the war and become queen so that she could bring me back." She sighed happily. "Yeah, it was quite an adventure for all of us. I wonder if..." She cupped her hands around her mouth in order to amplify her voice. "Hey, Death! Do you remember the ghost wars?"

"Unfortunately..." He muttered. "Do you have anything worthwhile to say to me, or should I just leave now?"

"Oh, Grim!" Mima laughed loudly as she slapped him playfully on the back. "I'm a queen! Everything I say is _super_ _important_!"

"Don't call me 'Grim'." He drifted away from her. "I'm leaving now. People are dying as we speak."

Reimu frowned as she watched him disappear. "What a downer. People deserve to see someone friendlier after they die. Like Shikieiki. Whatever happened to her, anyway?"

"Oh, her?" Marisa shrugged. "She was just filling in for Death while he was sealed in Dracula's castle for thirty-six years. I wonder what she's up to now..."

"That's pretty much what I asked." Reimu said. "But since no-one knows, and while we're on the subject of 'where are they now?'... How's Ruukoto doing? She's still taking good care of the shrine, right?"

"Well..." Mima nervously scratched her head. "She's... She's not very good at it."

"Not very?" She chuckled. "Well, she already sounds better than me!"

Mima laughed with her, but only briefly. "Seriously though. She lets others push her around too much. I think she needs someone to support her. I think she needs... Well, _you_."

"I'm afraid I'm staying here." Reimu said. "Why can't either of you help her out?"

"I'm the Ghost Queen." She said.

"I'm the Ghost Queen and also a maid at the Scarlet Devil Mansion." Marisa added. "So really, if I have time for both of those things, then Mima must have some time... Right, Mima?"

"Well..." Mima placed a hand to her chin. "Now that I think about it for more than two seconds, yeah, I actually have quite a bit of free time. But Marisa will probably have to run things while I'm not there."

"I can manage that." She nodded. "Though I still say we wouldn't have had to worry about this if you'd just had a kid."

"Well, that's the thing with the Hakurei family." Reimu said. "Because of the whole 'yin-yang' theme, you can't just start a family with anyone. They have to be opposite and equal to you. So if I were to get married, I'd probably have to find someone hard working, dishonest, and um..." She trailed off.

Marisa held a hand to her ear. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said I'm really happy for you and Mima..." She cleared her throat uncomfortably, suddenly finding it very difficult to make eye contact with either of them.

* * *

><p>AN: "Last chapter I wrote three reunions! I have three more in mind, so those will fit nicely into the next chapter."


	39. Voyager

Unlike the others, Remilia and Sakuya barely exchanged a word upon being reunited. Instead, they chose to stand there in each other's arms.

However, Remilia wasn't the only one who had missed her faithful maid.

"Hey, Remilia!" Flandre nearly ran straight into the two in her excitement. "Have you told Sakuya how you really feel about her yet?"

"Don't you remember?" Sakuya chuckled. "She told me that just before I died. _But_, I'm very glad you brought that up... Mistr..."

"Please, call me Remilia just this once." She interrupted.

"Very well... I love you, Remilia."

"I love you too." The two shared what would most likely be their only kiss, and as such decided to make the most of it. Afterwards, they continued the satisfied silence that Flandre had interrupted, though it was ceased once more when Sakuya noticed something out of the ordinary.

"Where's Meiling?" She asked. "She's still alive, isn't she?"

"We certainly hope so." Patchouli answered. "She left a month or so after you died, and we haven't seen her since. I seriously doubt she's in Gensokyo right now."

"Then who does the gardening?" She wondered. "And more importantly, who guards the front gate?"

"Oh, Marisa's able to do that on top of being the maid." Remilia said. "And I'm sure you could've done a much better job of that than she did."

Sakuya couldn't help but blush as the others continued to rain praise upon her, much to Marisa's annoyance a few yards away. Flandre wasn't able to say much, due to her lack of interaction with the maid, allowing Ivan to draw her away from the scene with little controversy.

"Flandre..." He began, a mixture of nervousness and pride in his voice. "I'd like you to meet... My parents." He held out his hand in the direction of Soma and Mina, both of whom were standing a few feet away.

"It's nice to meet you both!" She approached them and bowed. "My name's..."

"Flandre Scarlet." Soma nodded. "Ivan's already told us quite a lot about you."

"We're very glad he's found someone like you." Mina continued. "We were very worried about him during the last ten thousand years, but since he met you, well..." She trailed off.

"We haven't seen him this happy since... Well, since he was human!" Soma finished. "We simply can't overstate how glad we are that he's found someone like you."

"Aw, thanks..." Flandre blushed. "But the truth is... Before I met him, things weren't going so well for me either! Before Remilia let me go to the castle, I was considering running away, but I'm glad it didn't come to that."

"We all are." Ivan smiled warmly as he brought her closer to him. "Now... Is there anything that anyone else would like to say before we go? I seriously doubt we can stay here until we die."

"I have something to say." Soma declared. "Ivan... I am so very, very proud of you." He knelt down and pulled his son into an embrace. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Dad." Ivan continued to smile in spite of the tears streaming down his face. "I'll try and see you again before I die..." He stood up and made his way towards the gates, allowing the others to say their final goodbyes before gesturing for them to follow.

* * *

><p>"Well then..." Alucard moved towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion's front doors. "I should really be going back now... But with any luck, our paths will cross again."<p>

"Back?" Patchouli raised an eyebrow. "Back where? Haven't you been sleeping for the past hundred thousand years?"

"That's right..." He nodded hesitantly.

"I think you should stay." She insisted. "You've only just been reunited with your brother. Do you really want to leave him again so soon?"

Alucard's eyes widened slightly as images of Trevor flashed in his mind. "...You're right." He decided. "I'll stay."

"Thank you." Patchouli hugged him. "I'm sure Ivan won't be the only one who appreciates this."

* * *

><p>AN: Still not the end! Though I doubt there'll be a villain who poses more of a threat than Satan did.


	40. Invisible Full Moon

At first, Marisa was perfectly satisfied with how things had turned out following Satan's defeat, as was everybody else, but later on her mind was plagued with unanswered questions.

"How _did_ Reimu die?" She asked nobody in particular. "I should be able to remember something like that, even after ten thousand years, but all I do remember is that Rinnosuke and Kaguya died around the same time, and Rumia lost that ribbon of hers around that time too. The rest is... Well, I'd say it's a blur, but it's really more like a pitch-black void, with occasional light patches."

Patchouli lowered the book she was reading. "...Now that I think about it, it's the same with me... I have no idea why this didn't bother me sooner." She paused to think before her eyes suddenly shot wide open. "Wait a minute... Kaguya died!"

Marisa nodded slowly. "That's what I said..."

"But don't you see?" She insisted. "She drank the Hourai Elixir. That prevents her from aging,"

"Which barely happens anyway in Gensokyo." Mima added.

"and also allows them to recover from anything!" Patchouli finished. "Not even Flandre could have killed her!"

Marisa suddenly felt very stupid.

"I think we should do a proper investigation." Remilia decided. "All kinds of exciting things happen when we inspected strange things like this back in the day!"

Patchouli nodded. "We'll start with Kaguya's associates."

* * *

><p>Kaguya's associates quickly proved to be less than cooperative.<p>

"Hey there, Miss Kangaroo!" Demo raised a leg and 'waved' at Reisen. "We're detectives now! Isn't that hilarious?"

"My sides are splitting." She said flatly. "Why are you _really_ here? Snooping as usual? Whatever it is, it can't be good if _you__'__re_ involved."

Ivan leaned closer to Flandre and whispered. "What does she have against Demo?"

"Oh, she's just holding a grudge because Lord Rao once tried to take over Gensokyo and she stopped him with ease." Demo laughed dismissively. "So really, I should be holding a grudge against _her_!" Her laughter became louder and more inappropriate.

Reisen sarcastically laughed with her. "But you don't, and I can see why. It seems to me that the two of you are _enjoying_insanity! And you know what? I bet the rest of your friends would as well?" Her eyes began to glow bright red.

As soon as he noticed something was amiss, Ivan tried to...

Whoa. Doesn't Ivan have the _craziest_ name?

Ivan. Iiiiiivan. I-van. EYE van. Izan. Isaac. Isaac Cruz. Doesn't quiet role off the tongue, does it? You'd be all "eysakruse!" and I'd be like "the socks ruse?" and you'd be like "no! eysgmiro9eagnbaxie!" and then I'd kick you because seriously, shut up.

* * *

><p>I found a secret area!<p>

* * *

><p>cat planet cat planet cat battleship cat planet cat planet cat factory bob<p>

One day Dracula was the last being in the universe who could be classified as 'alive' or 'undead' or even 'sentient'. Then he heard a knock on the door.

By the way, if you're wondering where the Parodius series fits into canon, Ivan's hallucinating the whole thing right now. He appears in Sexy Parodius as a penguin called "Ivan" and for the sake of a Japanese pun he also has a partner called Toby. Michael and Gabriel from the last arc are in it too, but they're depicted as pigs, which is probably blasphemous. But then again, God originally intended for pigs to be Earth's dominant species, but then he made them too delicious.

Well that about wraps it up for God.

"Guys?" Demo's eye shifted back and forth in confusion. "What's wrong, you guys? What's the big deal?" She looked up. "Hey, did I take over as narrator again?"

"I guess it's understandable that it wouldn't affect you twice..." Reisen muttered, mimicking a gun with her hand. "But just wait. This time, I'll be finishing you for good!"

* * *

><p>AN: Anything that I could have said has been said during the insanity sequence.


	41. Snow or Cherry Petal

"Okay, fine..." Demo sighed. "I _guess_ since there's no one else around to do it, I can fight for serious _just_ _this_ _once_..." A fireball appeared in front of her. "Just don't tell Rumia when she recovers, okay? She kind of thinks we're a _thing_ now, and I'm kind of inclined to agree with her." The fireball fell to the ground and bounced towards Reisen, who simply jumped over it.

"_That_ was your attempt at fighting seriously?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not!" Demo laughed. "That was... That was a demo, to show that sometimes, people are inexplicably able to move three dimensionally! Crazy, I know. Normally, when video games switch from 2D to 3D, they get the Bubsy treatment, but from what I can tell, TMUYBAIYCANALGBTSSMBTTQLE has turned out just..." She paused for a while, the two of them simply staring at one another before Demo kicked Reisen in the face.

"AS I WAS SAYING BEFORE I WAS SO RUDELY INTERRUPTED..." She shouted, clearing her throat. "...Has turned out just fine. Now that I've properly finished that sentence, I can go to sleep at night."

As if on cue, Flandre then began to scream her favorite fast food chain jingles.

"Or not..." She rolled her eye until it was glaring at Reisen. "You'd better fix this, or else I'll _ramble_!"

"Fine..." She sighed. "Let me just..." She closed her eyes as tightly as she could and kept them that way for five minutes. When she opened them again, she was met with many confused utterances.

"Well..." Remilia murmured. "I'll never sleep again."

"You can't have seen anything like what _I_ saw..." Ivan retorted. "Nobody will ever see anything like what I saw..."

Rumia shrugged. "I bet Demo sees them whenever she closes her eye! Right, Demo?"

The cyclops responded by blinking repeatedly. "...I'm normal now!" She declared happily. "Now all I see is..." She closed her eye again. "...Nope, never mind. Still nuts."

"That's very unusual..." Reisen's eyes narrowed as she thought before suddenly snapping wide open. "Oh, that's right! Demo, you weren't here when Rao tried to take over! You must have caught his insanity secondhand!"

"Oh yeah, that..." She nodded, her cheerful demeanor fading. "That and the things I saw in the Mashed Potato Kingdom... And the fact that I'm one of the only people who remembers the Yukari War..."

"Yukari... War?" Marisa repeated. "Who's Yukari? She sounds... Kind of familiar..."

"One of the only people who remembers..." Alucard echoed. "Demo, does that have anything to do with your power over time?"

She nodded. "It technically never happened, because Yukari was erased from history. But when she was, some of her actions couldn't be undone, due to her power."

He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Actions like... Killing somebody?"

Patchouli's eyes widened. "It's all coming together now! Demo, why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"Because..." Demo gazed downward. "Who's going to believe _me_? Even I was skeptical at first, but then you all got Donkey Holmes on it and it actually became kind of plausible. If you want the whole story, you'll probably need to consult another time-ologist."

"So that means Sakuya would have known about it too..." Remilia said. "Who else is there... Actually, what I should really be asking here is who in Gensokyo could erase people from... Of course!" She turned around and ran, others quickly following.

"What is it?" Ivan asked. "Who can erase people from history?"

"Oh, no one you've heard of..." Mima dismissed. "Come to think of it, I've only heard of her from Marisa... So now we'll both get to meet her for the first time! Let's get going!"

* * *

><p>AN: Oh don't act so shocked. I hinted at this twist WAY back in Chapter 22.


	42. Plain Asia

"Okay, seriously now." Ivan said. "Who is it we're looking for here? I may not have heard of her, but a name's better than nothing!"

"Keine Kamishirasawa." Remilia answered. "All you really know is that she can erase people from history. And that she's just a few yards away. Hello there, Keine."

"It's been a long time..." she said. "Can I help you?"

"I wouldn't, if I were you..." Demo said darkly. "They're here about the Yukari War..."

"Oh." Keine said. "_That_. As unsettling as it sounds, I'm with Demo on this one. I erased it for a reason."

"I just want to know how Reimu died..." Marisa pleaded. "I don't need to know the rest. I just have to know that one detail."

Keine paused. "Well... The problem is, I can't tell you that without any context." She gave a sigh of resignation. "But seeing how desperate you are... I guess I'll start from the beginning."

* * *

><p>Yukari Yakumo was without a doubt the most powerful being in Gensokyo. In her last moments, she was able to hold her own against Flandre without showing any signs of fatigue. But that's not where this story begins. This began when she was approached by a being even more powerful than she was.<p>

**YUKARI ****YAKUMO**

"Hello there." she greeted casually. "And who might you be?"

**I ****AM**

**I ****AM ****OPPOSITE ****AND ****EQUAL ****TO ****GOD ****HIMSELF**

**I ****AM ****THE ****FORCE ****BEHIND ****THOSE ****WHO ****BEAR ****THE ****TITLE ****OF ****DARK ****LORD**

**I ****AM ****CHAOS**

"Fascinating..." She yawned mockingly. "And what brings you to Gensokyo?"

**YOU ****HAVE ****BEEN ****CHOSEN**

Yukari held a hand to her ear. "I'm sorry, could you say that again, but this time less melodramatically?"

**I ****HAVE ****CHOSEN ****YOU ****TO ****BE ****THE ****NEXT ****DARK ****LORD**

"Riiiiiiiight..." She nodded. "Sure, I'll play along with this for now, but only because I'm so freaking bored. But if you make me do anything I don't like, I _will_ find a way out of this."

**YOU ****ARE ****WELCOME ****TO ****TRY**

"Like I need your permission." She stood up straight and felt It enter her body through her chest.

And, before she even had a chance to realize it, Yukari Yakumo changed completely.

And it was, without a doubt, a change for the worse.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Yukari's faithful shikigami Ran was relaxing when her ears suddenly twitched in recognition of her mistress' call. With hardly a second thought, she rushed over, and as soon as she did so she couldn't help but feel that something was amiss.<p>

"What is it, Lady Yukari?" She tilted her head questioningly.

"You are going to find Chen..." Yukari grinned in a manner that seemed unnatural, even for her. "And then you are going to _consume_ her... Her power will become yours, and in turn yours will be mine..."

And, against all probability, this command alone caused Ran Yakumo to break free of her duties as a shikigami.

"I will _not_."

"I never said you had a choice..." She reached out and wrapped her hand around Ran's throat. "Go and find her. _Now_."

* * *

><p>AN: Just a fair warning; There'll be a lot more Touhou than Castlevania in this arc.


	43. Apparitions Stalk the Night

"You know, it's just not fair." Reimu sighed. "With Marisa becoming a ghost in her prime, and you having mysterious time powers, I'm the only one who ages like a normal human around here!"

"If I had a choice, I'd age as well." Sakuya lamented. "But ever since I found the Luna Dial in 1999, I've been stuck looking like this. I don't even know when or if I'll die."

"That sounds suspenseful." Marisa said as she joined them. "I'd kill for excitement like..."

An explosion was heard in the distance, followed by screaming.

"...That." she finished. "Let's go check it out!"

* * *

><p>Before meeting Chaos, Yukari was nigh-unstoppable. Now, she had absorbed Ran and Chen, and she was even more than that.<p>

If told secondhand that she had transformed into something more powerful, one might have expected her to appear larger and more monstrous. However, this was not the case. Instead, she had simply grown eleven tails, nine belonging to a fox and two to a cat.

"Hey, guys..." Cirno pointed to the newest Dark Lord. "Does Yukari look different to any of you?"

"I don't see anything!" Rumia said, a small hint of annoyance in her voice.

"I think so..." Demo squinted. "I think I'd have a better idea of what it was if she turned arou..." She interrupted herself with a scream as she narrowly dodged an explosion. "Okay, what the hell?"

"That's a very good question." Sakuya appeared next to her. "Yukari, what's..." Her eyes widened as she suddenly noticed something _very_ wrong with the situation. "Oh... Oh no..."

"It's been a long time, hunter." Yukari smirked menacingly. "Of course, that all depends on how you look at things. You could even see this as our first meeti..." She stopped to catch the knives thrown at her. "Really? Are you and your family _still_ using these pathetic weapons?"

"I removed myself from the Belmont clan long ago." she insisted. "These weapons are now my only connection to them."

"I see..." Yukari turned the knives around so that the hilts were facing her. "Well, I hope you appreciate the irony of your death!"

"Stop right there!"

"You two took your sweet time." She frowned. "Reimu and Marisa. Gensokyo's resident problem solvers. One of you, time has not been kind to. The other has no excuse."

"Bite me." Marisa growled, a glowing orb appearing in her palm. Without a moment's hesitation, she threw it, only for it to disappear upon impact.

"Are you _serious_?" Yukari laughed. "The most powerful force in Gensokyo goes on a rampage, and your solution is to throw a single bullet at her? You must have gotten rusty. Here, let me show you how it's done!"

She threw both of her arms into the air, causing a bright light to appear above them, which increased in size until it was the size of a house. Her arms then moved until her body formed a 'T' shape, causing the orb to divide into several more, each the same size as the original, gathered in an arc above her head. Finally, she pointed towards the others, and before any of them could process what was happening, the orbs were headed towards them with alarming speed.

Surprisingly, Rumia was the first to realize that she needed to do something, but this was quickly followed by the realization that she wouldn't have time to think of something good enough to save them all.

So instead, she decided to charge headfirst into the attack, with two gigantic shadows by her sides to absorb the rest of it.

By the time Demo realized what Rumia had planned, it was too late.

* * *

><p>AN:


	44. Black Dress

As Demo rushed over to Rumia's corpse, she made no sound, and no tears appeared in her eye until she knelt next to the body.

As she tried to undo the event, she felt a lingering sense of doubt that she couldn't understand dnatsrednu t'ndluoc ehs taht tbuod fo esnes gniregnil a tlef ehs ,tneve eht odnu ot deirt ehs sA She quickly realized that undoing the tragedy was impossible, most likely due to Yukari's meddling.

"J'espère que maintenant, tu n'as plus peur, Rumia..." she whispered. "Au revoir, mon ami... Tu vas me manquer..."

Reimu joined her and crouched next to Rumia's head. "She always wanted to remove the bow in her hair." she noted as she did just that. "She couldn't do it while she was alive... I'm sure she would have wanted one of us to remove it..."

"You're absolutely right."

Both of them immediately backed away from the body in shock.

"Rumia!" Demo cried, a grin creeping onto her face. "You're..."

"Complete. Unsealed. Free." she said. "For the first time since... 1748? Yes, 1748. Once again, the wonderful night shall vanquish the evening sun!" She turned towards Yukari. "Are you ready to be eclipsed?"

"Oh, _bravo_." Yukari clapped sarcastically. "Bravo indeed. I knew I should only have killed you, and I was _right_! This will be so much more interesting now that you're actually _awake_!"

"You mean you just..." Demo's eye narrowed. "Oh, you _bitch_. Fine, you want to fight everyone at their best, that's fine by me. Lord Rao?"

"Hey there, Demo!" Rao cheered as he appeared in the sky. "You want to take on the newest Dark Lord? That's pretty great. Have a free upgrade. You feel A LOT **TOUGHER**!"

And, as promised, Demo underwent a wonderful transformation.

It began with her dress and hair turning from sky blue to fire red, and it continued with a muscular arm emerging from one side of her body and the head of a dragon emerging from the other. These new limbs were soon accompanied by a pair of angelic wings that looked as though they were drawn in Microsoft Paint growing from her back and a second eye appearing on the front of her torso. Just as it seemed to be complete, her entire lower half was dropped into a giant green shoe which for some reason had a wind-up key on the back.

"Way to steal my thunder." Rumia rolled her eyes. "Don't mind me, I've just truly woken up for the first time in almost half a millennium, no big deal."

"I'm not stealing your thunder!" Demo protested. "It's just, my transformation sequence had more words, and I looked more different by the end of it than you did. Don't look at me, if it were me in charge, I'd have just turned red. But I have to admit, the giant green shoe kicks rump at forty miles per hour with a leather spatula."

"It certainly does." Yukari smirked. "I'm very glad you've chosen to show this to me... It will make your deaths all the more humiliating!"

"Or maybe your gloating will lead you to the same fate." Reimu suggested, floating defiantly in front of her. "Before you take either of these new opponents on, I have a small challenge for you."

Yukari smiled with curiosity and gestured for her to continue.

Reimu answered this request by continuing to float, until she eventually detached herself from physical reality.

"See if you can kill somebody you can't touch."

* * *

><p>AN: That's right. I just retconned Rumia's backstory so that she appears as a boss in _Harmony_ _of_ _Dissonance_. No prizes for guessing which one.

While I'm at it, Marisa's the witch who appears between stages in the Game Boy version of _Kid_ _Dracula_.


	45. Maiden's Capriccio

When Chaos took control of Yukari, It was even more fascinated by her power than It was when It had first arrived in Gensokyo. As such, she now loved being challenged, and Reimu's proposal was very exciting to her. Despite this, she was just as interested in seeing what Demo and Rumia were now capable of, so she decided to split into two duplicates in order to attempt both challenges.

Despite this, she focused more on her battle against Reimu, who despite this wasn't happy to see that her challenge had failed to keep the others out of harm's way.

"I wouldn't worry about them so much if I were you." Yukari said. "They're in much better shape than you are, and neither of them are distracted by trivial things like the safety of others. Just focus on me and _fight_!" She punctuated this demand by throwing a ball of energy the size of her body at Reimu.

Reimu didn't even attempt to dodge this, instead choosing to grin spitefully as it phased right through her.

"Oh, I see..." Yukari frowned. "Still, nothing I can't..." She stopped as soon as Demo threw her duplicate body at her. "It seems I underestimated you two..." they said in unison. "That, or I overestimated my ability to multitask. Hopefully, it's neither."

"That doesn't explain..." Rumia cried out in pain as a large ball of energy collided with her cheek like an extremely powerful slap, forcing her head to turn to the left. Although her eyes had difficulty reopening, she was still able to retaliate with surprising accuracy, a torrent of dark orbs flying from her open palm to one of the Yukaris. At the same time, Demo's arm was throwing a series of large fireballs at the same target as her dragon head breathed fire in a continuous stream.

Yukari growled with frustration as she found that her two opponents were inflicting more pain than she had expected, but before she was able to counter she was forced to rejoin into one body and dodge an even more devastating projectile from Reimu.

"Even though you're not doing very well against them..." She laughed. "I suggest you pick on someone your own size. Or someone closer to your size, anyway." She dodged another projectile and laughed louder. "Okay, fine. If you're not going to take this seriously, then I guess I'll just finish this here and now." She closed her eyes and concentrated, soon causing a ring of glowing orbs surround her before expanding and homing in on Yukari. As they travelled, they increased in size, and by the time they reached their target, she was barely visible underneath the barrage. Once they had finally disappeared, Yukari was breathing heavily as she clutched her abdomen in agony.

"You're right..." She gasped. "I should have taken this... More seriously... As a matter of fact..." A portal opened next to her, allowing her to reach into it and grab Reimu by the throat on the other side. She retracted the arm just as suddenly, causing the shrine maidens neck to snap which in turn caused her to fall to the ground.

"So..." Yukari said, still clearly in pain. "Be back later... I suggest you take this time to gather the entire population of Gensokyo, because you're _definitely_ going to need them..." A portal swallowed her from underneath before disappearing completely.

However, nobody paid attention to her warning.

They were too busy gathering around Reimu's corpse.

* * *

><p>AN: I probably should have saved Chapter 43's author's notes for this chapter.


	46. Iris

**HERE LIES REIMU HAKUREI**

**Gensokyo's resident problem solver, and its greatest hero.**

Marisa was barely able to read the first line of her best friend's tombstone without breaking down into tears. Even with Mima's hand on her shoulder, she was barely able to keep her emotions contained.

"I'm sorry, Marisa..." she whispered. "I searched every possible afterlife, and even asked Death himself... She's nowhere to be found..."

"I just don't get it..." Cirno said. "I thought that if Reimu died, then Gensokyo would completely disappear... I mean, I never understood _why_, but..."

"Reimu retired as Hakurei's Shrine Maiden seven years ago." Ruukoto explained. "She passed the duty on to me... But I don't think I can live up to her legacy..."

Marisa stood up and quickly turned to face her. "Of course you can't!" she roared. "_Nobody _can! Reimu was the best we had, and now that she's gone, we're _fucked_! _No one_ can save us now, so we might as well just lie down and _die_!"

"Marisa, calm the hell down."

The others turned their heads towards the source of the voice, and were somewhat surprised to find Remilia standing with her arms folded next to Sakuya.

"Yes, it's very unfortunate that Reimu's gone." she continued. "But, we haven't lost all hope yet. Yukari told you to gather everyone in Gensokyo if you wanted a chance of stopping her, but in actuality, there's only one person we need."

Marisa's jaw dropped, any trace of fury on her face completely disappearing. "You don't mean...?"

"Hi guys!" Flandre stepped out from behind her sister. "It's great to be here!"

Rumia leaned towards Demo and whispered. "Who is that, and why's she such a big deal?"

"That's Flandre." she answered. "She can blow things up. And by things, I mean_ anything_. And she's just been let out of the basement."

* * *

><p><em>From what I heard, Yukari said to gather the entire population of Gensokyo... But why stop there? <em>

Eirin Yagokoro could never have predicted a crisis that would have forced her to return to the Moon. And yet, here she was, a crowd of lunarians cheering her name whilst others demanded her execution, or worse. As expected, the commotion quickly drew the attention of the Moon's two princesses, the Watatsuki sisters.

"I understand that I've made a controversial decision in returning, but I bring an important warning." Eirin began. "Right now, Gensokyo is being threatened by a being with unlimited potential. Once it is finished with Gensokyo, it will almost certainly target the rest of the Earth, and afterwards, the rest of the universe. We have all seen before that together, the Moon's inhabitants are more powerful than the inhabitants of Gensokyo, and so I beg of you: Please help us, before it is too late."

Yorihime placed a hand to her chin and hummed thoughtfully. Although the Moon's inhabitants had held a grudge against the people of Earth ever since they had tried to claim ownership of the Moon with a flag, she realized that it would be pointless to stand against them in the face of a common threat. As such, she gave her answer after only a minute of thought.

"Yes." she said simply. "We will allow a truce for the crisis you've described."

* * *

><p>AN: Death won't be helping them out because he's a jerk.


	47. Curious Old Shanghai Tile

"Welp..." Yukari sat up and stretched in a disturbingly literal manner. "That should be enough time for them to gather together. And if it isn't, then too bad."

With that, she flew outside and wandered until she found the crowd she was hoping to see, lead, as she expected, by Marisa.

"It's about time you arrived." She growled. "After all the effort we've put into gathering everyone, the least you can do is die painfully."

"Well, I intend to do less than that." Yukari smirked spitefully. "Now, who's going to make the first move? Surprise me. Or at least try to."

Rinnosuke Morichika stepped forward in response to this, surprising not only Yukari but everyone else present, himself included. In his shaking hand, he held the legendary Sword of Kusanagi, said to be able to unite all under heaven.

"I'm sure you know very well what I've got here." he said, pointing it towards her. "I'm willing to guess that it's one of the most powerful weapons available in Gensokyo, so if this doesn't work, I'll be very disappointed."

"Kourin, what are you doing?" Marisa cried. "You told me that thing was a piece of junk!"

"Oh, if only..." Yukari said. "No, he's more or less right about that thing. Which is why I'm going to have to do this." She made a sweeping gesture with her right arm, much to everybody's confusion.

Rinnosuke, who didn't care at all what she was doing, floated upwards so that the two were face to face. He pointed the sword towards her abdomen and thrust it forward...

...And it shattered against her skin.

"I suppose I should be more specific when I say 'this'." She laughed. "What I did was manipulate the border between authenticity and forgery. That sword, in its last moments, was a fake. Now... Which of your vital organs should I do the same to? Decisions, decisions... I know!"

She playfully poked his neck, causing him to pause in confusion for a moment before coming to a shocking realization.

He couldn't breathe.

Unable to make even the smallest grunt, he soundlessly fell to the ground and began to clutch his chest in agony. Others rushed to his side, but with less oxygen going to his brain, he was only able to make out Marisa's face.

"Rinnosuke..." she gasped, using one hand to keep his head off the ground. "Not you too... Please, don't do this..."

Rinnosuke looked at her helplessly.

"I swear..." Her eyes narrowed. "I am going to make her _pay_. You won't die for nothing."

With a hopeful nod, his eyes finally closed, and Marisa allowed his head to come down to the ground. Having already shed all the tears she could after Reimu's death, she simply looked up at Yukari and glared.

"You're standing on thin ice, you bitch..." She growled. "That's two of my best friends you've killed now."

"Let me guess..." Yukari said. "Three strikes and I'm out?"

Although it didn't seem possible, Marisa's glare intensified.

"There won't be a third strike."

* * *

><p>AN: Why did I spoil all the deaths at the beginning of this arc again?


	48. Bamboo Cutter Flight

As Marisa flew in Yukari's direction, she got the feeling that it was taking her far longer than it should have been to reach her.

It was only later when she realized that it had only been a few seconds, and Mima was holding her back.

"Marisa..." she pleaded. "I know you're angry... Angrier than you ever thought you could be... But if we're going to go through with this, then we need to think of a plan."

"Oh, I have a plan..." Marisa said. "I'm going to _obliterate_ that..." She paused, and then sighed. "...There's only so many times I can call her a bitch before it loses all meaning. It's..." She roared with frustration. "I don't think there's any way to express how much I hate her right now, no matter how much pain I inflict on her. Even if I could, she wouldn't even care, and it'd all be meaningless anyway... I'm just... There is _nothing_ I can do here! Just... Forget it! I'm out of here." Before anyone could object, she disappeared completely.

"Well that's no fun..." Yukari frowned. "I didn't even get to tell her what I did to Reimu's soul..."

"Which is...?" Mima glared.

"Like I said, it's no fun unless Marisa's here." she dismissed. "But, every cloud has a silver lining... In my case, anyway... How many of you have lost all hope now that I've killed one of your greatest heroes and utterly broken the other?"

Demo, realizing that her arm would probably only be temporary, decided to answer with her middle finger.

Sakuya didn't feel that this got the message across, so she flew over to Yukari and stabbed her in the throat.

"That's adorable." Yukari removed the knife and crushed it, casually throwing Sakuya aside in the process. "But seriously, can we move this along? If I'm going to destroy everything in the universe and beyond, it's probably going to take me a year or so, and that's taking my ability to be anywhere into consideration. By the time I finally get to do battle with God Himself, pretty much all of you will probably have decomposed completely."

"All of us, you say?" Kaguya made her way to the front of the crowd. "I think you're forgetting something here. Or someone. Or quite a few someones."

"Kaguya, Kaguya, Kaguya..." Yukari smiled and shook her head. "I could kill you instantly, and it'd probably be a massive shock to everyone else here, but I'm getting tired of killing people so abruptly. Can you think of a way to alleviate my boredom?"

"Even if I could, I wouldn't tell you." she answered spitefully. "I understand that you think of this as a game, but do you really expect the rest of us to play along with it?"

Yukari grabbed her by the throat and grinned. "Well, if you're going to die, you might as well die having fun..." She tightened her grip. "Constantly being on the brink of death without actually being able to die is fun, right?"

Kaguya failed to give an intelligible answer.

"Fun times indeed." Yukari laughed. "Sadly, I'm going to have to cut them short." She tightened her grip further until her fingernails pierced Kaguya's skin, reaching inside and pulling out something she couldn't be bothered to identify. "What do you have to say now, throatless?" She paused, glancing at the red thing in her hand. "Oh, is _that_ what this was? What is it with me and not allowing my victims to have any last words? Whatever I'm missing must be hilarious. You know, you and I aren't so different. You're going to miss the rest of this battle, and it's going to be hilarious."

Kaguya silently wished that she could tell Yukari to shut up and get it over with.

"Oh, very well..." she rolled her eyes. "Let's see..." She reached into Kaguya's chest and chlenched her fist. "Beating... Still beating... _Still_ beating... Stopped... Beating again... Slowing down... There we go." She withdrew her hand. "So... Anyone else bored of immortality? Mokou? Maybe one or more of those fairies that seem to be everywhere? Don't be shy now. I'll even make sure no one claps their hands too hard, so you can actually stay dead."

Cirno, generally recognized as the Strongest fairy in Gensokyo, was currently terrified out of what little wits she had. Making matters worse, everyone she could normally turn to in such a crisis was in very much the same state, save for Demo and Rumia, whom she barely even recognized anymore and as such didn't trust. When Yukari seemed to look her in the eye and lick her lips in anticipation, her only response was to break down crying and try desperately to pretend she was anywhere else but where she actually was.

Sadly, Cirno's imagination just wasn't powerful enough.

* * *

><p>AN: HOW TO WRITE A FIGHT SCENE THE SIFI270 WAY

You will need one fifth action and four fifths trash talk. Then you will need reviews, but you won't get any because you were dumb enough to take writing advice from SiFi270. Hypothetically, of course.


	49. Native Faith

As Cirno sat there and cowered, simply waiting to die, she began to wonder. She wondered what the point was in having friends when none of them were any use when they were needed the most. She thought back to Marisa and Reimu, who shared what was quite possibly the closest friendship in Gensokyo, and she concluded that Marisa was not only a mean-spirited trickster, but also one of the worst possible people to have as a friend, considering how easily she let Reimu die.

If Marisa were there with her and somehow able to read her thoughts, she probably would have agreed.

Because of all this, Cirno spent her last moments feeling resentful anyone she could possibly blame for her current predicament, including herself.

But, those weren't her last moments.

When she finally gained the courage to open her eyes, Cirno found that Suwako Moriya was standing defiantly in front of her, looking just as surprised at what she was doing as the fairy was.

"We've had our differences before..." She said. "I may even have killed you before... But I can't let you die like this. Anyone who could would just be despicable."

Cirno had been confused over simple things in the past, but she considered this to be a new record for her. She felt as though every emotion she knew of was trying to burst out of her body, which was somehow more pleasant than what she was feeling before Suwako intervened.

"Oh, get a room..." Yukari rolled her eyes. "Preferably somewhere in Hell."

"I won't go down easily..." Suwako warned. "While you've certainly killed some very powerful people, none of them were gods."

"Unless you're _the_ God, being a god means nothing." Yukari retorted. "But either way, I won't let you die so easily either. I've probably squeezed all the shock value I can by killing Kaguya."

Without another word from either of them, the two titans were soon inches away from one another in mere milliseconds. As they fought, Mima saw what she hoped was an opportunity, and decided to risk taking it.

_Satori!_ she thought. _Can you hear me._

_I can._ A voice in her head, belonging to none other than Gensokyo's resident mindreader, responded.

_Is it safe to communicate with you like this?_

_So long as Yukari doesn't suspect it. I take it you have a plan?_

_Yes, but I'll have to talk Marisa into coming back. Before I go, I'd like you to share the details of my plan with all the people involved in it. And afterwards, make sure Yukari's still occupied._

_Got it._

With that, Mima revealed her plan in great detail, and with a satisfied sigh, she faded into thin air.

When Marisa was finally located, she appeared to be locked in combat with Death, who, despite looking badly beaten, seemed just as calm as ever.

"Marisa..." she placed a hand on her shoulder. "I've worked out a way to stop Yukari, but I need your help."

"What does it matter?" Marisa sighed. "Even if we manage to kill her, the damage she did would still be there."

"Not necessarily."

All of a sudden, Marisa was slightly interested in hearing about this plan.

"The plan has many steps." Mima continued. "The first involves the two of us contributing to the greatest Master Spark in history, and the last involves history itself being changed."

* * *

><p>AN: Death was originally going to be terrified when Mima found him, but then I remembered: If he managed to stay calm when dealing with Flandre after she lost Ivan, he should be fine here too.


	50. Necrofantasia

When Marisa had finally heard the details of Mima's plan, she responded with what could just barely be considered a smile, and Mima thought that she could see a small shred of her original personality.

"Well..." Marisa said. "It's better than what the deserves... But at the same time, it's the worst she can possibly get."

"Sucks, doesn't it?" Mima agreed. "So, are you in?"

Marisa simply smiled at her and nodded.

* * *

><p>"...so you see," Demo continued, "this is the part in any RPG ever where you have to kill God, or in this case, God-lite. It's pretty rad. I love killing God, I do it every day. You know, some people have breakfast, I kill God, with my super-giant house-sized sword." She withdrew Rumia, who happened to be assuming the form of the sword in question, from Yukari's body. "You know, it has three mortgages in it, two families can live in it, but instead I use it as a weapon. It's pretty rad."<p>

"It is." Yukari said flatly. "It's almost as impressive as your ability to say so much about so little. It looks like I'm not the only one going mad with power here."

"Far from it!" Flandre suddenly flew up to her at lightning speed. "I'm so happy to be here I could just... I could just...!" She grinned wildly as she clenched her fist, but her smile quickly faded when she realized that Yukari was still there.

"Flandre, _please_..." She rolled her eyes. "Everyone with more than half a brain knows you're only playing up your insanity to scare people."

Flandre tried to clench her fist a few more times, but before she could fully comprehend that she wasn't actually accomplishing anything, Yukari grabbed her by the throat, tightening her grip with every passing second.

"Don't you think things would be too easy if that worked on_ anything_?" she taunted. "Next time you go up against a Dark Lord, remember that your ability won't be any... Oh, that's right!" She giggled maniacally. "There won't _be_ a next..."

"Put my daughter down right now!"

Although Yukari was annoyed that her stellar comedy had been interrupted, she was too excited to care. After all, Kurumi Scarlet's presence in Gensokyo was a rare treat to those who met her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Scarlet..." She smiled insincerely. "Being the only parent here, you'll probably be one of the easiest to break. Let me just..." She lifted Flandre so that she could be seen better, only for her to turn the tables and grab Yukari in the same manner before throwing her down to the ground. Seeing an opportunity, Demo used Rumia to stab her restrained body, only for her to roll away, phasing through the sword in the process.

"Well, well, look who's here..." She smirked. "How was your wallowing in self-pity break?"

Marisa refused to give her the satisfaction of an answer.

"Whatever." Yukari shrugged. "At least now I can tell you what happened to Reimu."

Marisa continued to remain silent, simply waiting for her to continue.

"It's quite simple, really..." She chuckled. "I just sealed her soul inside her corpse, trapped and confused forever. I mean, sure, it's a lot better than just going to Hell, but you would have found her there if I did that."

Marisa paused, but only briefly. "You know, I thought it'd be impossible for me to hate you more than I did up until now. I guess it just goes to show that 'impossible' means nothing to you."

"But that's okay." Mima added. "Because it doesn't mean anything for us either! Is everyone ready?" She flew a few yards away from Yukari, and was quickly joined by Yuuka and Alice.

"I'll be with you in a minute." Marisa assured them. "I just had a great idea." She disappeared once again, but this time it was clear that she'd be coming back.

"Ooh, do I smell a plan?" Yukari said. "Because if I do, then it's doomed to fail. All I have to..."

"Did I say I was done with you?"

Yukari grunted with frustration as she found herself face to face with not only Kurumi and her children, but also her sister Elis.

"Okay fine, I guess I can play with you a little longer." She grumbled. "After all, I can still just..." She created another duplicate and pointed straight ahead. With a nod, it prepared to teleport itself the same way Marisa had, only to realize that it was faced with its own distraction.

To be more specific, Alice had summoned two of her most powerful creations to fight it, one of them being her infamous 'Goliath Doll', and the other being a creature resembling a giant playing card that she'd never bothered to name.

"Well, this is getting more and more ridiculous." Both Yukaris said. "We'll see how long you all last before I lose my patience completely.

* * *

><p>"Come on..." Marisa muttered to herself. "Come <em>on<em>!" She grunted with frustration, but, despite her best efforts, she was unable to extract Reimu's soul from her body.

"You look as though you could use some assistance."

"You may be right." She turned to face Death. "But are you willing to give it?"

"If I were to reveal to you the full details of my intentions, you would consider them to be 'confusing' at best." he said. "But yes, I am willing to help you." He drew his scythe and pointed the blade towards the corpse's chest.

Before Marisa could grasp what he was doing, he made an incision, and then moved the scythe so that the wound ran across the entirety of her torso. Just as Marisa was about to object to what he was doing, she noticed a bright light coming from the wound, and Reimu's ghost soon emerged, looking as though she had just narrowly avoided drowning.

"Marisa!" She gasped. "I'm... I'm free! Thank you so much!"

"Actually, I..." Marisa looked around before realizing that Death had completely vanished. "That's not important right now. You've got to come with me."

* * *

><p>When Marisa and Reimu returned to the battlefield, they were greeted with many relieved faces, but at the same time, several of them clearly wished that the two had arrived <em>before<em> the nick of time. Regardless, they quickly joined Mima and the others, the five of them forming a square shape with Marisa in the center.

"Now _this_ looks interesting..." Yukari merged with her duplicate as the others ensured that there was nothing between her and Marisa's group.

"Ready!" Mima cried. Her allies repeated this exclamation, and an expanding orb of light began to appear in front of Marisa as they charged what was promised to be the greatest Master Spark in history.

"I'm liking this plan already!" Yukari laughed loudly as she extended her arms outwards, simultaneously making herself an easier target and mocking Jesus Christ. "Go right ahead! Hit me!" She squealed with excitement as the orb of light extended into a beam, but as it got closer to her, she suddenly realized what it could do to her, and attempted to block it. The beam soon collided with her open palms, and, despite her efforts to defend, she had acted too late, and was quickly knocked to the ground.

"Yuyuko!" Mima called. "Now's your chance!"

The ghost nodded solemnly as she used the ability she'd tried to restrain for so long, and willed death upon one of her oldest friends.

"It's not over yet!" Marisa said. "Flandre!"

Flandre grinned wildly as she clenched her fist yet again, this time causing Yukari's body to explode into small, bloody pieces.

"Now for the final stage of the plan!" Marisa declared. "Keine, are you ready?"

Keine didn't respond, but it was still clear that she knew what she had to do. With barely a single movement, she completely erased Yukari from history, ending the battle once and for all.

"It's over..." She sighed exhaustedly. "The nightmare's finally over..."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Keine looked questioningly at Marisa, who appeared to be furious in regards to what she'd just said.

"Reimu's dead, Rinnosuke's dead, Rumia's dead, Kaguya's dead, and all you have to say is 'the nightmare's finally over'? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Keine considered responding, but quickly decided that it was better if only she knew what had happened, and as such simply turned and walked away.

She had a feeling that, regardless of how much longer she was going to live for, it was going to feel so much longer now.

* * *

><p>AN: You heard it here first! Every vampire in Gensokyo is related! Now, how can I fit Muse into all this?


	51. Water of Serenity

Due to their connection to the Luna Dial, the Watatsuki sisters were among the time-sensitive beings who were aware of who Yukari was and what had happened. However, unlike Keine, they made no attempt to hide the details from Eirin.

"...so, to make a long story short," Yorihime continued, "we were totally useless. You brought us to Earth for nothing."

"Well..." Eirin shuffled uncomfortably. "That isn't necessarily true. If nothing else, we've learned something important from this."

"And what might that be?" Toyohime tilted her head.

Eirin tried to smile. "We've learned that the people on Earth and the people on the Moon can coexist, and maybe even cooperate with one another."

* * *

><p>Almost a century later, humanity would learn the secret to time travel from a mysterious stranger who claimed to hail from 'somewhere nearby, but further than you think'.<p>

* * *

><p>"I blew it up! I blew it all up!"<p>

For some reason, nobody seemed interested in being within fifty yards of Demo. This seemed to change when she stopped laughing and shouting, but not by much.

"I can maul my mummy... Oh man, I can't wait to mail my mummy! I can say, hey there, Mummy! I... found out today what the printer does! Then I've got, like, fifty five... I need my daddy still... Oh man, you always need your father." She paused. "I'm kind of dangerous to be around."

"I doubt that." Rumia approached her wearily. "Listen, I'm sort of new here, in a way, but apparently, you and I used to be the best of friends."

"I know..." Demo sighed.

"They also say you've changed just as much as I have," she continued, "and in both cases nobody seems to know why. So..." She extended her hand to shake, only for Demo's hand to disappear, among other parts. "...Whatever. I guess it's back to the beginning for both of us, so... Here's to the start of what could be a beautiful friendship? Just... Don't get on my bad side, okay?"

"Whatever..." Demo responded. "...Stupid horse."

Rumia twitched. "..._What_ did you just call me?"

* * *

><p>"So that was the nightmare I was referring to back then." Keine concluded. "I hope I won't have to talk about it again after this."<p>

Demo lifted her head from the fetal position she'd been in for the past hour. "So how did you know about the parts you weren't there for?"

"I felt them being undone when I erased Yukari." she explained. "As for the parts afterwards... Well, they actually happened, so it wasn't too hard for me to find out about them."

"That makes sense, I guess..." Marisa said, despite her mind clearly being elsewhere. "I'm sorry about what I said to you... I had no idea."

"I didn't want you to." Keine retorted. "But, now that I've told you this, I feel there's something else you should know. As a matter of fact, it's probably more important for you to know this than it was for you to hear what I just told you."

"Go ahead then." said Ivan. "We're listening."

"Just under twenty years ago, a human was born who wouldn't have been if Yukari had never been erased from history. When I looked into the subject, I found out that she has powers very similar to Yukari's."

"I think I see where this is going." Patchouli said. "At the moment, I have little but speculation to go on, but it sounds like that this individual is to Yukari what Ivan's father was to Dracula. Do you know her name?"

"I do." Keine said.

"Her name is Maribel Hearn."

* * *

><p>AN: Up next is the Christmas special. That's right, I actually have time to make it part of the story this time!


	52. How Black Plague Stole Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, and in Castle Dracula,  
>not a creature was stirring. Well, nothing spectacular.<br>But that is not where our story transpires.  
>In fact, you won't be seeing any vampires.<p>

This tale takes place in Gensokyo,  
>a place in the east, much like Tokyo.<br>Many in Gensokyo liked Christmas a lot.  
>But they were soon to be visited by one who did not.<p>

It was Demo's archnemesis, known as Black Plague,  
>a horrible demon, consumed by rage.<br>Black Plague hailed from another dimension,  
>where he was worshipped by legions of henchmen.<p>

But none of his followers could join him here,  
>where he intended to ruin the best time of year.<br>He came to Gensokyo with a straightforward plan:  
>Ruin Christmas for all, then take over the land!<p>

His conquest began at the Scarlet Devil Mansion.  
>With its expensive decorations, it looked rather handsome.<br>A quick glance inside proved no gloomier.  
>He was met with the sight of Demo and Rumia.<p>

Demo had promised the best present yet.  
>Something truly amazing, and not easy to get.<br>"Merry Christmas, Rumia! Your gift's made from silver!  
>And what's more, I... uh... fuck."<p>

Black Plague could hardly believe his three eyes.  
>The head of his enemy was a magnificent prize!<br>"I'll have to plan differently, now that I know,  
>this faraway land is home to Demo."<p>

He became intangible and drifted inside.  
>In a mansion so large, it was easy to hide.<br>"This will all be too easy, I reckon.  
>I'll subject them to my ultimate weapon!"<p>

The weapon in question, if you must know,  
>is a time bomb, which is effective, but slow.<br>It gives one plenty of time to escape.  
>Unless, of course, they are slow as an ape.<p>

Meanwhile, Demo suspected something wasn't right.  
>"I have a feeling that someone's shoes are too tight!<br>Hey Rumia, could I borrow that thing made from silver?  
>As you can see, I'm not very good at this."<p>

Rumia could hardly see a reason why not.  
>She knew something was wrong, and it had to be stopped.<br>"I don't fully trust you, but still, here you go.  
>Now find out what's wrong, and stop it, Demo!"<p>

Elsewhere, Black Plague found things rather strange.  
>He felt uneasy, despite his weapon's large range.<br>Something was about to go horribly wrong.  
>"WHO DARES TO TRY TO STOP THE TIME BOMB?"<p>

When Demo saw her foe, she was consumed with laughter.  
>If she was to save the mansion, it'd have to wait until after.<br>To her, Black Plague had always looked dumb.  
>She could kill him right there, but that was no fun.<p>

Plague said, "you still cannot stop me without a silver switch,  
>so laugh all you want, you insignificant, rambling, maniacal, stupid, fat, ugly..."<br>But Demo had the item which he feared most.  
>She pressed the silver switch, and soon, he was toast.<p>

The time bomb was stopped, and Christmas was saved.  
>Our heroine saw to the end of Black Plague.<br>At the end of the day, things were perfectly fine.  
>"Merry Christmas to all, and to all... um... line?"<p>

* * *

><p>AN: ALTERNATE FIRST TWO LINES: "'Twas the night before Christmas, and in Castle Drac,/not a creature was living, except for the bats."


	53. Blue Memories

A/N: This follows on from the chapter before the last one, which takes place a few years after this arc.

* * *

><p>"Maribel Hearn..." Marisa repeated. "I think I've met her... I found her wandering outside the mansion, and she said she wanted to meet whoever was in charge. I was hesitant at first, but Remilia appeared and said it was okay, so we settled down and had something to eat before she left again. But yeah... No idea why the name stuck with me. Any idea where we can find her?"<p>

Keine shook her head apologetically. "She's been known to appear in Gensokyo when... Well, the best term I can thing of is 'dreaming'... But since then, she's been able to move through these borders like it was nothing, with seemingly no control over when or where it happens. Last I heard, she was using these abilities to search for fragments of the Izanagi plate with her best friend, Renko Usami."

"So... We could find her anywhere?" Marisa said.

"I guess."

"Then we'd better keep an eye out..." She displayed a smile that appeared too menacing for Ivan's tastes.

"Can't we just leave her alone?" he suggested. "If she's like my dad, then making her stressed would be a _very_ bad idea."

"But leaving her alone would be just as risky." Alucard noted. "If I could have left Soma alone, then believe me, I would have. But if I had, then he might never have gained control over his powers. It... didn't end well, but it was a risk we had to take, just to make it a little more likely that things _wouldn't_ end that way."

As tears began to run down Ivan's face, many suspected that he was about to explode with rage, but both Flandre and Alucard knew better: Whenever something upset him, Ivan had a tendency to go silent and do very little. So far, only Carmilla had managed to gain this response from him, but none could have predicted that the next would be his own brother.

"So in the end, you were useless..." he muttered. "It was all for nothing... Because of her, it was inevitable..."

Alucard's facial expression made a rare change, and for a moment it looked as though he were about to try and comfort Ivan. However, he soon realized that he had no idea how to do that, and simply gave a melancholic sigh.

"So..." Marisa nervously broke the silence. "It's agreed that we should look out for her, right? Because frankly, that's probably what I'm going to do whether anyone else is going to or not."

"We'll keep an eye out." Remilia decided. "Mima, can you consult with Sakuya and Soma's friends in the afterlife? They may be able to offer some advice."

"Got it." Mima almost saluted her, but then stopped herself. "...Remind me, am I your maid or is it Marisa. Because at this point I think it's safe to say that we both share _two_ jobs."

* * *

><p>AN: Before starting on this chapter, I re-read the stories included with every album Maribel appears in, and I was distressed to find that the future depicted in those stories seemed a little improbable for what humanity can expect in ten thousand years.

Fortunately, the keyword is _improbable_, which means less than nothing in Touhou _and_ Castlevania.


	54. Message of Darkness

After over two years of searching and/or waiting for Maribel, Ivan and his friends all but forgot about her entirely. Marisa once noticed this, joking that it had something to do with Yukari being erased from history, but this was nothing more than idle conversation.

"Gensokyo's gotten boring again..." Mima complained. "Nothing's really happened since... Well, there was an incident last Christmas, but only Demo and Rumia were there to see it."

"Chinese people would say 'may you live in interesting times' to people they didn't like." Patchouli said. "By complaining about how uneventful things have been, you're practically inviting something horrible to happen."

"Patchouli's right!" Demo said. "This peace is what all true warriors strive for!"

"Whatever." Mima shrugged. "I'm just going to stare at the door until someone bursts through with important news."

* * *

><p>Three months later, news arrived, not through the door but through Alucard.<p>

"It's... my father..." he gasped. "He's returned..."

"We should probably let Kokoro handle it." Ivan said. "It's pretty much her destiny, and frankly, I don't want anything to do with Dracula."

"You don't understand..." Alucard said. "He's changed. Without our help, she and whoever she's with are as good as dead."

"Well I'm all over this like ketchup on eggs." Demo said. "And if Mima wasn't stuck forever in that doorwatching position, I'd say she wants to go too."

Mima grumbled irritably. "How does this even happen to a ghost?"

Being just as eager to go out and fight monsters, Marisa helped her move again, but nobody fully understood how she managed it.

"Are you sure you don't want to go, Ivan?" Flandre smiled invitingly. "Considering how much I enjoyed it last time, I'd like to go again."

"...That's a surprisingly compelling argument..." he noted. "But then again... It looks like everyone's going to be going at this rate, and... Who's going to look after Gergoth?"

"OH MY FRIG GERGOTH STILL EXISTS." Demo cried. "AND WE STILL HAVEN'T BEEN FORCED TO HIRE A POOPSMITH. IT'S A CHRISTMAS MACKEREL."

"I volunteer." Patchouli said. "...To look after him. Not to smith his..." She trailed off.

"So we're all going except Patchouli." Marisa concluded. "...Right? Remila? Rumia?"

The two of them paused to consider this before nodding.

"Well, this is going to be crowded." Alucard rolled his eyes. "And there'll only be more waiting at the castle."

* * *

><p>Kokoro and Hanafuuma's journey to Castle Dracula was most unpleasant. They hadn't expected anything pleasant, but at the same time they didn't expect to find an acre of impaled corpses outside the castle.<p>

"Looks like he's going back to his roots..." Hanafuuma remarked grimly. "Let's hope none of them become zombies."

Kokoro nodded and went on ahead, fighting to keep her stomach's contents where they belonged. Even when the sight was far behind her, she struggled to forget about it, which was why, when met with someone who would otherwise have been a source of annoyance, she was considerably relieved.

"This isn't really the best place for you to be." she said. "As a matter of fact, I'd..."

The stranger interrupted her by pointing an almost comically oversized gun at her forehead.

"My name is Dorothy Hood." she said. "I'm here to avenge my mother. You'd do best to stay out of my way, Belmont or otherwise."

Kokoro stared defiantly down the barrel. "That's a worthy cause, but if everyone came here to avenge one of Dracula's victims, there'd be an even higher body count. Are you really willing to risk something like that?"

Dorothy calmly removed the gun and pointed it behind her back, blowing the head off an approaching axe knight in the process.

"Oh... I think I'll manage."

* * *

><p>AN: OH MY FRIG GERGOTH _AND_ THE SIDE STORY STILL EXIST


	55. Castle Dracula

"It's even worse than I suspected..."

This was Alucard's response to seeing the area surrounding Castle Dracula, and not one of his allies disagreed with him. Fortunately, the castle's entrance was, somehow, considerably more welcoming, which might have had something to do with the presence of Kokoro, amongst others.

"...Dorothy?" Ivan blinked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, the usual..." She shrugged. "Hunting down everyone involved in the death of my mother."

"Then you might just be in luck!" He smiled. "The man directly responsible for that is... Actually, come to think of it, Dracula's probably severed all ties with him after the Satan incident."

"Whatever." She said. "I'm sure there are plenty of other freaks here I can take my anger out on. If I'm lucky, I might even..."

"Leave Dracula to me." Kokoro interrupted. "It's my duty as a Belmont to kill him."

"Whatever." Dorothy repeated.

* * *

><p>"I'm beginning to see what you mean, Alucard." Remilia said. "Dracula hasn't even shown up yet, and this is already much rougher than last time I was here."<p>

"He's unleashing shoes in the afternoon like it's 1999!" Demo beamed.

Alucard stared at her. "...That statement is disturbingly accurate. But back then, he made things more difficult because he was afraid of what was prophesied to be his final defeat. As far as I can tell, there's nothing special about this particular occasion. So what's he up to?"

"There's only one way to find out!" Flandre grinned, zooming towards a suspiciously open area.

"This can't end well..." Hanafuuma rolled her eyes.

Her suspicions were proven correct almost instantly when an unfamiliar laughter echoed throughout the hallway.

"I was hoping I'd get to meet you all... Especially _you_, boys."

Alucard drew his sword and pointed it straight ahead. "Who's there?"

"You mean you don't recognize me?" A blonde haired woman with wings like Remilia's descended from above. "Even if we've never met, you should be able to know family when you see them. Unless I'm mistaken, that's an ability shared by all vampires."

"Adrian's only a dhampir." Ivan clarified. "And he's the only relative of Dracula I'm willing to consider a relative of mine."

"And I suppose what you're willing to consider makes all the difference." She scoffed. "But I digress. My name's Zeleska, and I'm Dracula's daughter. My mother's a succubus, so I'm just as much a vampire as you are, Alucard."

"Let's get to the point." Remilia said. "Are you here to fight us or not?"

"I prefer to inflict pleasure over pain." She licked her lips. "Although a lot of people I've met don't seem to think there's a difference. But to answer your question... I'm just here to enjoy myself. And more importantly..." She walked over to Ivan and stroked his chin suggestively. "...To enjoy others."

Flandre moved between the two of them as quickly as possible. "That's more than enough. I suggest you leave now while you're still in one piece."

"Do you, now?" Zeleska giggled and flew back against the wall. "In that case..." She formed a fireball in each hand. "It seems I'm here for a fight after all. Just try to make it interesting..."

* * *

><p>AN: I hope she doesn't end up forcing me to change the story's rating to M.


	56. Enchanted Banquet

While fighting Zeleska, Flandre came to a realization that she didn't want to realize, not because it was in any way disturbing, but because it distracted her from the battle.

She realized that succubi were fast. Really fast.

What she didn't understand was why this was an important trait for a race like succubi to have. She knew exactly what it was they did, and she completely failed to see why they'd want it to be done quickly under any circumstances.

Zeleska didn't get it either. But she was glad it was helping her in this particular situation.

"I think this would've been less fun if Ivan accepted my offer!" she said. "I'm in so much danger right now! I've never felt so undead!"

"Oh, look." Remilia frowned. "It's a succubus who gets turned on by something that has basically nothing to do with sex. What are the odds?"

"I just have a thing for adrenaline." Zeleska said. "Not all succubi are like that, so please, try not to be racist. Besides, I'm still..."

"Half vampire..." She finished nonchalantly. "Forgive me if I'm reluctant to be associated with the likes of you."

"You've got a dry wit." Zeleska licked her lips again, leading Ivan to wonder how it hadn't dried up from not spending enough time in her mouth. "I like that."

"Is there anything you _don't_ like?" Flandre said. "You know, besides _not_ being an annoying bitch." She paused. "Damn it, now you're even more turned on."

"There's really not much you can do about that." She smirked.

"Oh, will you all just _shut up_!" Kokoro roared. "I swear, there's been too much talking and zero fighting in the last half hour and I am _sick of it_! I just... You know what?" She screamed and hit Zeleska in the face with her whip, causing her to gasp ecstatically.

"I've got to agree." Demo said calmly. "As one of the greatest vampire hunters _ever_ once said, 'a little less conversation, a little more action'."

Many expected Rumia to make some attempt to deny this, but instead she silently wondered if Elvis really was a vampire hunter, reasoning that, of all the things that Demo had said, this was among the most likely to be true. Finally, she decided not to let such thoughts distract her, and promptly disappeared into her own shadow, reappeared from Zeleska's, and snapped her neck.

Zeleska snapped it back into place.

"You didn't actually expect that to work, did you?" she said. "I'm... Wow. I'm actually kind of disappointed. Are any of you even _trying_?"

"Oh, you want trying?" Kokoro said. "I'll give you trying."

Before another word could be uttered, she had the whip wrapped around Zeleska's neck, tightening it with every passing moment. At first, she appeared to be excited by this, despite the fact that asphyxiation had no actual effect on her. However, this changed when Kokoro realized the mistake she was making, and decided to fix it by producing a silver dagger from her arsenal and holding it up to Zeleska's throat, releasing the whip in the process.

For a while, the only sound that could be heard was Kokoro breathing heavily through gritted teeth, until eventually, Zeleska broke the silence.

"You're really going to do it, aren't you?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Kokoro growled. "Is burning in Hell until the next time your father has the _guts_ to rear his ugly head again too _extreme_ for you?"

Zeleska managed to mouth a timid 'yes' before turning into mist and disappearing.

"Kokoro..." Hanafuuma said, sounding only slightly less breathless than Zeleska had. "What's happened to you?"

Kokoro turned her head in the direction Zeleska had disappeared to and spat bitterly. "I'm just trying to do my job."

* * *

><p>AN: WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT I FIXED THE WORST CHAPTER. NO YOU ARE NOT GETTING THE OLD ONE BACK.


	57. Wicked Child

"Welp..." Demo arched her head back as though trying to yawn. "Even though this castle has been _freaking unreasonable_ so far, I really hope the next boss is, you know, _a boss_. Something like, I don't know, something that forces us to face our deepest darkest fears. Something like... Hey, check it out!" She struggled briefly before looking down and remembering she couldn't point. "It's another boss. Someone that can put up a fight."

"Are you sure?" Flandre cautiously approached the 'boss' in question. "It's just a little girl."

Remilia frowned. "Flandre, I want you to think back ten thousand years. Imagine some idiot wandered into the mansion one day, and then, against all odds, found themselves in the basement, and ended up face to face with you. Imagine them dismissing you as 'just a little girl'. Imagine them dismissing _anyone_ in Gensokyo as 'just a little girl'."

Flandre didn't respond.

Remilia was taken slightly aback by this, expecting something along the lines of 'good point' at the very least. Just as she was wondering why this bothered her so much, the 'little girl' turned around, and Remilia immediately realized that she had every right to be unnerved.

"I told you." Flandre said, speaking in a monotone voice that somehow didn't seem entirely there. "This girl is harmless. She must be protected."

"Looks like I couldn't convince either of you." the child said. "You must both be very selfish."

Remilia turned around to find that everyone else happened to be in a trance, save for Kokoro, who appeared just as confused as she was.

"Neither of you fear loss," she continued, "or at least, not to the extent that the others fear it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kokoro demanded.

"Let's begin with Gesshi Hanafuuma," she said. "She's noticed you behaving differently lately. You've been very confrontational, especially in regards to what you believe is your destiny. Because of this, she fears losing you, or more specifically, the 'you' she knows... and loves."  
>The hunter's face reddened, but it could easily have been considered a sign of anger rather than embarrassment.<p>

"Queen Mima has been in a similar situation for over two years now." she continued "Ever since Marisa Kirisame learned the truth about Maribel Hearn, Mima's been noticing changes in her behavior. A murderous intent overcomes her whenever she hears Maribel's name, and when it seems as though they're getting closer to finding her, she's overcome with a smile that Mima can only describe as 'unsettling'. Because of this, she fears losing Marisa just as Hanafuuma fears losing you.

"Flandre Scarlet once had nothing to lose, but as soon as she met Ivan Cruz, this changed for her. Now, she fears losing what she has only had for a fraction of a percentage of her life: Love... and freedom. Unlike those I mentioned before her, she has already lost this, and knows the pain it brings all too well. Because of this, she is incredibly lucky to have regained what she lost, and she dreads to lose it again.

"Next is Rumia, to whom I feel especially connected. She's been in a situation very similar to Flandre's, at roughly the same time. Because of this, she shares the very same dread Flandre does, although they have yet to realize that they share this connection.

"This finally brings me to the others: Ivan Cruz... Adrian Tepes... Marisa Kirisame... Dorothy Hood... And Demo Gauyant. All of these people have already lost far more than the others... Some might even argue that they've lost everything, although they've since gained something new... With one exception.

"Everybody here, save for you two and myself, would sooner die before losing anything more. They aren't willing to lose anything or anyone... And that includes me.

"As for you two," she concluded, "I've finally worked out what you fear. You're both afraid of being forgotten... Of disappearing from this world without leaving an indication that you were there to begin with... Simply put, you're afraid of being nobodies."  
>Kokoro brandished her whip. "I'm beginning to lose my patience here..."<p>

"Don't worry..." The child giggled. "...Or do. Your fear will arrive in due time. But for now, you will focus on me."

"Like hell I will!" She leapt towards the child, holding her whip in one hand and a particularly large axe in the other. Before she could come within three feet of her, however, she found Ivan and Flandre standing defiantly in her way, with the others surrounding her.

"I must protect her." they said in unision. "I must protect... my child."

* * *

><p>AN: It's hard to make it clear what this girl's from when she doesn't even have a name.


	58. Despair

A/N: During my long period of doing nothing whatsoever, I went and replaced chapter 56. You know, the worst one. Go read it, and if you never had a chance to read the original version, YOU'RE A WINNER.

* * *

><p>"Okay, wonderful," Remilia said. "You've now got, what, nine parents? Are you sure it's not you who's afraid of losing a loved one?"<p>

"Well, it certainly isn't you," the child retorted. "Aren't you at all concerned for your sister?"

"Flandre's a lot stronger than you think she is," Remilia said. "I'm sure she'll break free, with or without my help."

"I know exactly how strong she is," the child said. "That's why I sought out the most vulnerable point and attacked there. It's the same thing as what she does, really."

As if on cue, Flandre clenched her fist, causing a nearby candelabra to shatter to pieces.

"Easy there, Flandre," Remilia said, only slightly less confident than she was a moment before, "if you're so afraid of losing a loved one all of a sudden, then why are you in such a hurry to lose me?"

"You're underestimating my influence," the child said. "Right now, nobody is more important to her than I am. Everyone you see here is powerless to escape my control."

* * *

><p>Hey there, everyone! It's-a me, Demo! It looks like I've been brainwashed again, so I think I should start wearing tinfoil. Also, I'm pretty afraid right now, but <em>details<em>, am I right?

Hey, you know what's weird? When Satan turned me into that jerk Squish Man, he said he was restoring me to my original personality or something equally bulldonk. But then we flashbacked to just before I went nuts, and I was kind of okay, if a little two dimensional. Uh-oh, retcon! So you know what I think? I think Satan pulled Squish Man out of his big smelly top hat!

So anyway, how am I going to get out of this one? Where's the latest Squish Man for me to eat?

I dunno, but the original Squish Man is right here.

Original Squish Man! How are you doing?

Okay, I guess. After I went squish, I kind of also went nuts, so that's nice. I'm not a jerk any more now.

That's cool, but do I really need an identical split personality? What am I supposed to do with you?

I guess we could try merging. Ready?

Ready! Wonder Demo Twin Horse Rump Powers, activate! Form of... Demo!

This just in, y'all. One plus one equals one. You saw it here first. Tell your dad, he'll forgive you eventually.

But still, I'm still totally stuck here, and I'm still _totally_ scared. And also I'm starring in this new game so that might cause a few retcons? Luckily, I'm in a universe where all myths and religions are true, so nothing has to make sense. If the fans complain about it online, you just point a bazooka at them. You don't fire it, though. That'd be _crazy_.

...Nope. Still no obvious exits. Not even a Dennis. I wonder if we can... struggling sounds... change perspective? Here goes.

* * *

><p>My name is Ivan Cruz, and I am nine years old. My parents are called Soma and Mina, and I love them very much. When they're happy, it means everything's going to be okay.<p>

Today, they're not happy. A friend of theirs died not too long ago. His name was Julius Belmont, but I never really knew him that well. It makes me sad that I won't get a chance now.

"We'll be back home this afternoon." Mina kneels down and kisses my forehead. "Until then, Hammer will be looking after you."

Hammer's another friend of theirs. I know him better than Mr. Belmont, because he's the one who looks after me whenever Mom and Dad are away.

They're leaving now, and they still look really sad. I hope they'll be happier when I see them this afternoon.

It's been a while, but now there's a knock at the door. Hammer goes downstairs to open the door. I don't hear anyone talking for a while, and when I do, I don't recognize the voice.

"Hello there... Tell me, is this the Cruz residence?"

"It is," Hammer says. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

Again, I don't hear anything. Then I hear a lot of grunting and sudden movements, so I look downstairs, and I find Hammer in a corner, pointing a gun at a lady I don't know.

"You really don't know who you're dealing with, do you?" She grabs the gun and puts it away, and then she grabs him by the throat and lifts him up with one hand. Hammer looks up the stairway and sees me, and he looks very scared. The lady turns her head and looks at me, and she licks her lips before throwing Hammer onto the floor. She floats towards me and grabs me, and she... she touches me in ways and in places that make me feel uncomfortable.

Suddenly, she stops and looks at the doorway, and I hear the Mom and Dad's car stopping outside. The doors open and close, and the lady takes me to another room while I hear Mom and Dad rushing inside.

"Hammer!" Dad says. "What happened? Where's Ivan?"

I can hear Hammer talking, but I can't tell what he's saying.

"I'll try," Dad says. "But the way things are going... I'm not sure if I can hold him for much longer."

Soon, I hear them rushing upstairs, and they find me being held by the lady.

"Ivan!" Mom says.

Dad looks at the lady and he suddenly looks really angry. "You... I wish I didn't recognize you, but in a state like this, I do. Now..." He reaches into his coat and gets out Hammer's gun. "I'm giving you one chance to get out of my house."

The lady laughs, and it sounds like the kind of thing you'd hear in a nightmare. "I've waited over fifty years for a chance like this, and I will _not_ just walk away from it now. Whatever that gun's loaded with, it's too late to fire it." She picks me up, and she...

She bites me...

And then I die... but I'm still awake.

Dad looks angrier than I've ever seen him before. His eyes are glowing, and I barely recognize him.

"Don't thank me yet," the lady... _Carmilla_ says. "I still haven't gotten to the main course..." She finally lets go of me, and she walks over to Mom. Dad shoots Carmilla again and again, but nothing happens. She grabs Mom's head, and... she pulls it off. I turn around and close my eyes, but I can still see it. It only gets worse when I hear something I don't understand. It sounds like something's changing, but I don't want to know for sure. Finally, it stops, and Carmilla laughs again.

"It's so wonderful to have you back, Lord Dracula," she says.

I hear a slapping sound, and the whole place shakes. I turn around to look at them again, and I try not to look at Mom's body, even though her blood's everywhere. Carmilla's kneeling down, and her head's facing an angle I don't think it should be. She moves it back into place with a snap and looks at... is that my dad?

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" he says. "Do you have any idea, _who! that! was!_"

"That was _hopefully_ the last reincarnation of Lisa Cronqvist," Carmilla says. "Maybe now, she won't hold you back any more."

He roars at her, and even when he's stopped I can still hear him. I'm sure this is a nightmare now... I think I'm waking up... I can see the thing that used to be my dad tearing Carmilla apart, but it's fading away... but I still hear her voice...

_I had a feeling he'd do something like that... That's why I left a piece of my soul in here. So... Congratulations on becoming a vampire! Look at you, you're like a little kid Dracula! Now, rule number one of being a vampire is, always obey the vampire who converted you. And since that's me, I only have this to say: Always obey Dracula. From now on, _he's _your father. Understand?_

I understand...

I'm the son of Dracula... I'm Kid Dracula!

* * *

><p>Hey there everyone, this is Demo, and I am <em>never<em> switching perspective again. I mean, _damn_. The good news is, I have no idea how I did it the first time, so if I don't try, it'll never happen again... I hope.

I think I should just let the chapter end here. I mean, we haven't made any progress in beating that kid, but... _Damn_. I'm surprised Ivan isn't more like me.

* * *

><p>AN: I should have done something like that way back when we established Ivan was having nightmares of that incident. But hey... better late than never?

Wait, did Demo gain psychic powers for this chapter, or is she just abusing her on-and-off fourth wall powers, or... I guess it doesn't matter, since she promised never to do it again.


	59. Purification

Although they didn't fully understand the reason, both Remilia and Kokoro noticed that, while fighting them, Ivan didn't seem sure whether to be afraid, playful, or aggressive.

Remilia prayed that he'd eventually decide on afraid, while Kokoro hoped he'd stick with aggressive, simply so that she'd have a chance to prove that he wasn't needed the last time they fought Dracula.

Meanwhile, Demo was staring at the wall, occasionally kicking it from time to time. This elicited a frown from the Unnamed Child, but she refused to comment. Even though she was able to see into the depths of someone's psyche, she had no hope of comprehending what had happened with Demo.

"Maybe preying on their greatest fears isn't as smart as you thought," Kokoro said. "I mean, the only reason it's coming close to working is because some of them are associating their fears with their anger."

"That may be so," the child giggled, "but just wait for what we have in store for you two. Of course, it'll be the others that will have to watch out, but it's going to be fun nonetheless."

"I'm getting sick of hearing your voice," Kokoro said, throwing an axe at her. "I think it may be those distortions that are _supposed_ to make it sound creepy, but actually make it really grating."

"Who said it's supposed to sound creepy?" The child smiled unnaturally. "To my 'parents', it's the most wonderful sound in the world."

"Yeah, well we're not your parents." Remilia said. "And neither are these guys."

"I must protect my child," Flandre repeated.

"Right, right..." She rolled her eyes. "Listen up, Flandre. If this is your child, and you're so attached to her, then tell me one thing..."

"I must protect my child."

Remilia ignored her. "Flandre, _what is her name_?"

Suddenly, Flandre's eyes were opened, figuratively speaking. Although, literally speaking, they were also considerably more open than they were before. With barely a moment's hesitation, she flew over to the Unnamed Child and grabbed her by the throat.

"What did you do?" she demanded.

"I _tried_ to ensure that you'd never be alone again," the child said. "But apparently, that isn't what you wanted."

"_Don't give me that_!" Flandre's grip tightened. "_What! did! you! do!_"

"I _may have_ trapped you in a memory," the child said, "but knowing you, yours was probably just you sitting alone in a basement. More boring than traumatizing, really."

"You know _nothing_!" Flandre said. "You've always been surrounded by your so-called parents. You prey on people afraid to lose someone, but you know _nothing_ about them!"

Before another word could be spoken by either of them, Flandre's fist was clenched as tightly as possible, causing the child to explode. Although both Flandre and Kokoro were hoping that she would explode in a shower of gore, she instead turned into a cloud of black fog that spread out in every direction.

"She assumed I'd be remembering my time in that hell..." Flandre muttered, not to anyone in particular. "Ironically, it was the exact opposite."

Slowly, the child's remaining victims came to, and Ivan soon ran over to Flandre and hugged her tightly. Flandre hugged him back, knowing there wasn't time for it but hoping all the same they'd be allowed to remain as they were.

Unfortunately, Alucard had other plans.

"We don't have time for this," he said, sounding more emotionally distant than usual. "If we move quickly, we may be able to put what we saw behind us."

The two of them nodded minutely and separated, moving walking quickly ahead of the group. After a while, Kokoro overtook them, wearing a look on her face that clearly said that she wanted to stay at the front. However, this didn't stop Hanafuuma from joining her, which she seemed to allow after some thought.

The group was back together. While many were shaken from what they'd seen, it felt, for the most part, as though nothing would separate them.

* * *

><p>AN: Yes, I'm done writing nothing but _Red Snow_... or am I?


	60. Nobody Told Me About Plutonia

As Alucard progressed further through the castle, he got a better idea of what it was Dracula was up to, but this didn't mean he liked the conclusions he was reaching.

"This isn't the first time he's recruited a Fear," he thought aloud. "But it is the first time he's chosen a specific Fear based on what his enemies are most afraid of. In the past, even he seemed to be afraid of the Unnamed Child. But it's becoming increasingly obvious that something about him has changed."

"He obviously hasn't changed _that_ much," Remilia said. "I remember this exact area from last time I was here. Right down to the computer screens that don't actually do anything besides say 'UAC', which probably doesn't actually mean anything besides 'hey, you're in the area with the'... Oh. Crap."

"You didn't realize until now?" Flandre would have laughed, but even she was a little nervous about fighting the Cyberdemon again, albeit not nearly as much as her sister was. "I'm sure we'll be okay. Last time, we were saved by Kokoro's timely intervention. This time, she's already here! Let me tell you, if she hadn't shown up, I don't know _where_ I'd be, except maybe all over that wall."

Kokoro laughed uncertainly, having not expected this kind of praise. "You're welcome..."

"And that wall too," Flandre continued. "And that one. And... Hey, we're in this room already? Where's the Cyberdemon?"

_Ka-thunk, ka-thunk_...

"Oh." She frowned. "There it is."

If a vampire had a digestive system remotely similar to a human's, then Remilia would most likely have had an accident at this point. Despite this, the humans present seemed to manage just fine.

"I think I got this," Dorothy said. "The best way to kill a monster with a gun like that is to shoot it until it dies. And if that don't work, use more gun." She demonstrated her point by pointing one of her so-called 'handguns' at the demon and firing, creating a noticeable splatter of blood but not leaving a visible wound.

"Let me show you how it's done..." Kokoro produced a cross-shaped boomerang and threw it, watching it tear through one arm, change direction, and finally claim the other. "You see? Not a..."

Suddenly, the Cyberdemon's arms were replaced with a pair of bigger, more fearsome guns.

"_Not a word_." Kokoro hissed.

"I only have one anyway," Dorothy said. "And that's 'unfair'."

The others nodded in agreement.

"But," Ivan said, "the worst case scenario here is that it now shoots bigger rockets. If that's the case, I'm sure we can..."

An expanding ball of green energy appeared in front of one of the guns, and then the other.

"Of course," he added, "there were _worse_ case scenarios, but I figured pretending they didn't exist made them less likely to happen. This still isn't the _worst_ case scenario, so _eat it_, fate! I left you a plate of cookies, you left one behind, and there are _no backsies_!"

By the time he'd finished speaking, Demo silently wondered if her accidental probing of his mind had had more of an effect than she thought. But more importantly, the energy balls had finally reached their maximum size, and were slowly advancing towards the group.

"I don't really think the worst case scenario matters when most of them end with us exploding," Remilia said, masking her panic surprisingly well. "But if it ends with Flandre blowing stuff up, that's different. Unless it's still us. Flandre, do you think you can blow something up that's not us?"

"On it!" She blew up one of the energy balls, creating a shockwave that spread across the room, knocking everyone and everything, including the other energy ball, into a wall.

"Oh man you guys," Demo said, "Remember when this used to be the computer room? Somebody ought to call tech support."

Marisa created a bolt of magic not too different from the energy spheres the Cyberdemon created. "Oh, I'll call the _hell_ out of tech support. Because as soon I'm finished calling them, there's going to be a broken Cyberdemon for them to fix." She released the magic, allowing it to fly ahead at blinding speed before hitting the Cyberdemon in the chest.

"So..." Demo shuffled her 'feet' awkwardly. "Does anyone here actually have a phone? Or whatever the equivalent is outside Gensokyo in 12,063 AD?"

"I have one," Hanafuuma said. "But I'm not calling tech support."

"Whatever." Demo turned back towards the Cyberdemon. "Looks like we won't be needing them anyway. After all, it still _kind of_ works."

"Guys, guys..." Ivan held his hands apart and prepared a fireball. "I'm ten thousand years behind, and even I know that the sooner you break something, the sooner you can get a new one. I had an analogy planned with dogs and life support, but it was kind of depressing."

Demo grew more suspicious, but quickly disregarded it upon seeing him launch the fireball. Within moments, it was passing through the Cyberdemon, burning a hole in its torso where Marisa had already left quite an impressive mark. In agony, it tried to clutch what was left of its abdomen, only to a) remember that it had very big guns for hands and b) completely incinerate itself from the inside.

"Let this be a lesson to y'all," Demo said. "Even if your gun is very, very large, it won't do any good unless you have a just cause and a strong will."

"Got it," Dorothy said, picking up what was left of one of the guns. "In that case, I should be good to go as long as someone can fix this thing."

"On it." Marisa placed a glowing hand on the gun, repairing and modifying it in a matter of seconds. "But do you really think you'll be able to carry it throughout this whole journey?"

Dorothy smirked. "Oh, I'm sure I can find some room in my inventory."

* * *

><p>AN: I was going to pit them against someone like... Well, you'll see. But then I decided they needed a breather after the last chapter.


	61. Rose-Killing Carmilla

"So as I was saying," Remilia said, "Dracula can't have changed that much. I mean, even if he's scared of that kid, it's not like he ever put up a big sign outside his castle telling her to stay out."

"For some reason," Demo added, "he doesn't seem to have a 'no vampire hunters allowed' sign for us to ignore either."

Remilia ignored her, as though she were the hypothetical sign in question. "I mean, if he'd really changed, he'd be calling in people he wouldn't even consider, like..."

"Well, well... You certainly took your time..."

Ivan assumed a fighting stance the moment he recognized the voice, his appearance becoming slightly less human in the process. But when he searched the room, he couldn't find the source of the voice.

"It's nice to see you too, Kid Dracula. Good to see you're not just cowering in the corner again."

"Well," he said bitterly, "it recently occurred to me: It makes a lot more sense for me to be angry than afraid. Besides, I've regretted letting Mima kill you for a while now. No offense Mima, but that should've been me. And this time, it will be me."

Mima nodded understandingly as she finally realized who the voice belonged to. "You hear that, Carmilla? You'd better just show yourself and get this over with."

"Very well." A repulsive crimson mist began to form in the center of the room, slowly becoming more solid until it could finally be recognized as Carmilla.

Alucard frowned disapprovingly. "Would you care to explain why you're here?"

"I could," she said, "but the whole thing was really Shaft's idea, and I think he'd prefer it if he got to gloat about... Oh!" She looked down, noticing that Ivan had managed to take his brother's sword and throw it right through her torso. "Do you really want to end this that quickly? Don't you want to hear me _scream_?"

"No," he said bluntly. "I want you to die."

"Fine." She removed the sword and threw it back to him. "I guess it's up to me to make this interesting, as usual."

Ivan caught the sword, silently wishing he'd brought the crissaegrim with him. He then continued to lunge repeatedly towards her, but his repetitive motions allowed Carmilla to parry with ease.

"Ivan!" Alucard called. "You can't just rely on blind rage here. That's exactly what she's counting on."

"Easier said than done!" He snapped. "If you think I'm doing so badly, then how about helping me out a little?"

"I've got just the thing…" Rumia created a cloud of darkness that morphed into a ring large enough to wrap around Carmilla's eyes, which is exactly what it did. At first it seemed to have an effect, with her staggering around the room, but as soon as she stopped abruptly and started laughing, everyone knew something was wrong.

"How many of you here have read Bram Stoker's _Dracula_?" she said. "If the bookworm was here, I'd ask her to explain what I'm talking about, but she isn't. So please, has anyone else here read _Dracula_?"

"I have," Hanafuuma said, "but I still don't see the point you're trying to make."

"The book was made to lay out the ground rules for vampires," Carmilla said. "One of which is that _they can see in the dark_!"

Kokoro prepared to slap Rumia, but then stopped herself before muttering: "Never ask a vampire to do a hunter's job." She drew her whip and rushed towards Carmilla, swiping repeatedly but only having slightly more success than Ivan. Her opponent's pained grunts almost sounded half-hearted, and maybe even a little disappointed. Although no words were being spoken, Kokoro heard a sentence repeating in her head.

_I expected better from a Belmont._

She responded with a flurry of attacks and an anguished scream, as if coherent speech was no longer permitted. Speaking of which…

"Oh man I can't wait for my turn," Demo said. "That's when I get to get revenge for something that never even happened to me but I still managed to experience firsthair."

If Ivan were focused on anything other than Carmilla, he might have heard this, and it might have given a significant glance in Demo's direction. But instead, he was waiting impatiently for Kokoro to get out of the way so he could finally attack again.

"TO HELL WITH WAITING YO" Demo leapt onto Kokoro's head, bounced off, and landed on Carmilla with considerably more force. Once she had her pinned, she did something nobody watching could fully understand, as usual. Some interpreted it as a vicious dance of some kind, while to others it looked as though a static image of Demo was moving erratically to various locations within a radius of a few feet. It took a while, but eventually Carmilla regained control, suddenly grabbing Demo's 'foot' and tossing her aside.

"Help, I'm a turtle and I can't get up!" Demo cried.

Carmilla stood up and brushed some dust off her dress. "Well, I'm glad one of you knows how to have fun. If you ever learn how, could you transfer it to… Oh!" She was tackled to the ground again, this time by Ivan.

"Oh, I'm going to have _a lot_ of fun," he growled. "I'll borrow a page from you, since you seem to be the expert." He grabbed her head and slowly pulled it upward while maintaining a tight grip. Soon, the flesh around her neck began to tear like wet paper, and when her head was finally detached, blood flowed in every direction as Ivan held the head, drinking the blood that dripped from it.

Almost instantly, he tossed the head into a wall and began coughing violently.

"Even…" He coughed out some blood, leading others to hope that it wasn't his. "...Even her blood's repulsive. There is _nothing_ to like about this bitch."

"You're telling me," Demo said. "...not that I'd know better than you. It's… Never mind."

Just as she suggested, Ivan ignored this, dismissing it as the same kind of nonsense she usually came up with.

As they moved on to the next area of the castle, Hanafuuma noted to herself that she seemed to be the only person who was disturbed by what she'd seen, which only made her more worried.

* * *

><p>AN: I don't usually consider the violence in my writing to be particularly gruesome, but I think I changed that with one simile.

Also I should probably apologize for the slows.


	62. Dancing in Phantasmic Hell

To Gesshi Hanafuuma, the relative peace that followed the battle with Carmilla was the most wonderful thing in the world. For a while now, the group had been spending the times between major battles discussing what had just happened, and what might happen next.

"So Dorothy," Ivan said, "if Shaft's involved in this, then that means you'll finally have your revenge. If you have half as much fun killing him as I did with Carmilla, you're in for a treat."

"Can we please talk about something else?" Hanafuuma said. "Something like… Oh, I don't know. Demo, do you have any suggestions?"

"Yes," Demo said. "I have something to say. It's the _future_. Way back in the past, the Belmonts were all 'if I set my whip on fire, it'll be more effective', and they were right. The modern equivalent to that would be using a laser whip, but Kokoro isn't using that, so what's the deal?"

Kokoro stared at her. "...When I get back from this, I'm demanding the hell out of that."

Demo laughed. "You know, that'd be the perfect opportunity for the next boss to show up and say '_if_ you get back', but now I just ruined their chance. They'd have to settle for something like..."

"Yes, thank you," Shaft said irritably.

"Called it," Demo muttered.

"Would you care to explain what's going on here?" Alucard said. "Carmilla told us that you planned it, and I get the impression you're proud of what you've done, for whatever reason."

"Very well." He smiled. "It began over ten thousand years ago, in 1792. I had yet to influence events at that point, but I noticed an opportunity to do so when Richter Belmont's fiancee became a vampire, forcing him to kill her.

"I was about to exploit his grief and control his mind, making him resurrect Dracula five years later. With the most powerful vampire hunter out of the picture, I knew Alucard would be forced to awaken from his slumber and battle his father once again.

"I knew this incident would attract the attention of Lisa, and I knew she wouldn't approve. After the battle was over, I arranged for both her and Dracula to be reincarnated, and so Mina Murray and Malus Abadeer were born. While the latter realized his true identity at an early age, the former was oblivious until death, and when they met, nothing significant happened.

"While this was the only setback in my plan, it forced me to wait over a century for my next opportunity, when Mina Hakuba and Soma Cruz were born. Unfortunately, they also didn't have the meeting I had hoped for, but they presented me with a new opportunity in the form of their son.

"I suppose his ten thousand year slumber could also be seen as a setback, but at this point I was willing to wait as long as it took. When the time was right, I summoned Satan into this world, who I knew would be far more interested in using the power I gave him to return to Heaven. This, of course, was where Ivan and his father were reunited, but I knew Ivan would be no match for Satan, and I knew such a confrontation would result in his demise. This, of course, forced his father to bring Dracula to Heaven.

"This finally allowed the reunion I was hoping for. After thousands of years, Lisa would confess to Dracula that she no longer loved him. When he returned to Hell, he wanted nothing more than to be rid of the pain he was feeling. And that's exactly what he got. He rid himself of all emotion, with the exception of the hatred that drove him, and that brings us to now. He is now free of all inhibitions, and will stop at nothing to destroy this world Lisa loves so much."

With his monologue finally over, nobody could find the words to respond to it, with Alucard looking the most shocked. Finally, he received a response from the one least involved in the plan.

"And you had to kill my mother for this?"

Shaft turned towards her and blinked, having failed to notice her until now. "And who are _you_ supposed to be?"

She pointed her guns at him, making him flinch. "My name is Dorothy hood. Three years ago, my mother was sacrificed to resurrect Dracula, and _you're_ the one behind it."

"I can't be expected to remember everyone I kill in my Master's name," he said. "Whoever your mother be, she isn't at all important, and neither are…"

BANG.

Shaft's imaged flickered, briefly changing from his appearance in life to a raw soul before changing back again.

"You know," she said, "it's not like anything you said would have made you less doomed, but you still chose the worst possible thing to say. It's actually kind of impressive."

She fired again, and Shaft finally realized that she wasn't someone to be underestimated. However, he was able to mask this growing terror with ease that impressed even him.

"As I suspected," he said. "Nothing to worry about?"

"Really now?" Dorothy said. "I count four things for you to worry about. Number one is all these bullets with your name on them. Number two is the gun that fires the bullets. Number three is the other gun, and number four is me, who's holding the guns. The reason it stops at four is because, unlike one through three, there's nothing determining whether or not I pull the trigger but me. No one's pulling my strings, and chances are you're the _last_ person who _would_ be pulling them."

"No one, you say?" Shaft hoped to himself that his confident smile wasn't wavering. "Your mother seems to have a sizeable influence on what you do. Unless, of course, you don't think she'd approve of you being here."

BANG.

"You know, I may have been wrong," Dorothy said. "You _are_ influencing whether or not I pull the trigger. Just not in the way you'd want."

Shaft prepared an orb of dark magic. "Oh, I think I can make you stop…" He prepared to throw it, but upon trying to do so he was harshly reminded that Dorothy wasn't his only opponent.

"When you killed Bella Hood," Ivan said, "I was there with you, but I just stood there and watched. Ever since Dorothy confronted me about this, it's haunted me nonstop. Now at the moment, it doesn't look like you have a chance of killing her, but even if you do, I'm not just going to stand there and watch it happen. This time, _you're_ going to watch helplessly as she obliterates you."

A particularly large fireball formed in his hand, and as soon as he was ready he threw it to the ground below Shaft, who saw little point in this considering how he was already paralyzed with fear.

Dorothy carefully aimed her guns, but after a moment's consideration she chose to put them away. At first, Shaft was simultaneously relieved and confused to see this, but when she instead produced something far more menacing, everything made sense to him, in spite of his best wishes.

"My cause is just…"

Dorothy aimed the BFG.

"My will is strong…"

Dorothy pulled the trigger.

"And my gun…"

The BFG began to charge a massive ball of energy.

"...is very, _very_ large."

The BFG fired, and as the energy ball advanced menacingly towards Shaft, he had time to experience every negative emotion conceivable with the exception of regret.

After all, what was there to regret when his plan was finally complete after over ten thousand years?

Marisa turned to Mima, looking almost as worried as Shaft had been.

"Did she…" she whispered. "I'm pretty sure that's the closest someone's ever come to killing a ghost."

"I know," Mima whispered back. "Just… Let's keep our distance, and whatever you do, _don't_ piss her off."

* * *

><p>AN: Since the last chapter was written, I got a review from Scourge from Bloodclan. Let's give him a round of applause for getting through the bad parts of the story and hopefully reaching something better.


	63. Septette for the Dead Princess

"It seems Death isn't here this time," Alucard said. "I guess Shaft did all of the planning for him. It doesn't look like we'll encounter anything major until Dracula…"

"I don't know about that," Remilia said. "Something in this room feels… Well, it doesn't feel _right_…"

Flandre looked around. "I'm not feeling anything. Just the usual 'this castle is evil' that's everywhere in this place."

Marisa moved her hand through the floor and frowned. "It's kind of dusty. Remilia, is 'something doesn't feel right about this place' your new way of saying 'clean it up'?"

"I'm serious!" she said. "At the very least, isn't it suspicious to any of you how this room's completely empt…"

Without warning, the dust rose from the floor and flew into her open mouth, causing her to choke uncontrollably. Even when the coughing slowed to a halt, it could still be heard, but from another source.

"Kokoro!" Hanafuuma said. "Kokoro, are you okay?"

Kokoro's answer was quite possibly the least reassuring answer she could have given. Without a word, the color was drained from her body and even her clothing, and although Hanafuuma was too preoccupied to notice, Remilia was undergoing the same transformation.

In her head, Hanafuuma frantically searched for an explanation of what was going on, and while she struggled to accept the conclusion she reached, Alucard suddenly said it for her.

"It's another Fear," he said. "This one's known as 'Dust'. It targets people who are afraid of being forgotten; of leaving the world leaving a mark of some kind. Dust exploits that by making their only goal to gain recognition at any cost. If I had to guess, I'd say Kokoro and Remilia intend to kill us, and quite possibly each other, to ensure that they and they alone have the honor of killing Dracula."

"That honor is my birthright!" Kokoro said. "When Ivan killed Dracula three years ago, I realized that in an era where Dracula had finally returned, I was worthless unless I was able to slay him at least once. But I didn't know if I'd ever get the chance again… But now that I have, I won't let that chance slip away!"

Hanafuuma pondered a retort to this, but a sudden realization stopped those thoughts in their tracks.

"You're… This thing's been controlling you for a while now," she said. "Kokoro, listen to me! Are you really willing to let yourself be controlled like this? Think of how many other people this has happened to. Grant Danasty, Soleil Belmont, and Maxim Kischine, just to name a few. Think of what happened to those people, especially…" She interrupted herself with a cry of pain as Kokoro's whip struck her arm.

"She won't listen to reason," Alucard said. "We have very few options here, but…"

"Killing her is out of the question," Hanafuuma said firmly, still struggling to parry Kokoro's attacks.

"I thought so," he said, "but that still leaves us with very few options."

* * *

><p>Okay, let's get the most important things out of the way: My name is Remilia Scarlet, and I am afraid.<p>

The reason these things are most important is because they're helping me hold on to my identity, which I think is slipping away from me. It kind of feels as though the lines are blurring between who I am and who I used to be.

A few years ago, when I heard that Dracula was being resurrected for the first time in millennia, I was actually excited to meet him, and before then, I even went as far as to claim I was his descendant. Why? Well, as far as vampires go, there is nothing special about me. A lot of people, myself included, used to think I could manipulate destiny, but I gave up on this "ability" after it failed me when I needed it the most. That's why I have to...

No!

This is exactly what I'm talking about. I keep thinking these things that I eventually realize I don't personally believe, and the realizations come later and later each time. I'm beginning to doubt even my more sincere feelings, and you can probably imagine how that feels. I just wish I had something to hold on to… Something I can always count on, even in a situation like this…

"It sounds more to me like you need some_one_…"

Sakuya!

"So you're dealing with a Fear… I met my fair share in 1999, but none of them were recruited specifically to target me. But to tell you the truth… I don't really think this one suits you.

"It's true that you wanted to be famous at one point, even if that meant riding off of someone else's much greater fame. But you've changed since then. And I'm guessing it wasn't just because being Dracula's descendant would complicate Flandre and Ivan's relationship.

"A few years ago, this thing might have had you hook line and sinker, but now… Well, the fact that you have any control at all should be enough to prove my point. You just needed a little push to break free, and now that I've given that push, I'd better get going."

...Already?

"I wish I could stay a little longer. I really do. But Kokoro's simply too dangerous for us to waste another minute. Now that you've been freed, you should be able to sway the battle in the right direction. Goodbye, Remilia."

Goodbye… I hope I see you again soon…

* * *

><p>During her supposed corruption, Remilia contributed very little to the battle, which is why she easily took everyone by surprise by shouting at the top of her lungs and sending the Dust occupying her body flying in every direction.<p>

"Miss me?" she said. "Doesn't matter. A little bird in Heaven told me I can fix this, and I've only got a few minutes to figure out how."

"Well, how did you manage it?" Flandre said.

"Well first of all, I didn't have it _nearly_ as bad as Kokoro, and second…" She stopped herself upon noticing the intense glare Hanafuuma was sending in her direction. "Yikes. Anyway, second is I had encouragement from someone I love. I'm not completely certain it'll work in this case, but as I think more and more about it… I think it could." She gave Hanafuuma a meaningful look, but she tried to ignore it, until concluding that now was not the time for trying to hide her feelings.

"Kokoro…" She held her sword in front of her, simply so that she could block attacks more easily. "Kokoro, please listen to me. I know how you're feeling right now. You feel like you don't matter to anyone. But that's not true at all. Because…" She struggled to hold back her tears. "...even if you don't matter to anyone else, there's one person who can't live without you. Even if you never manage to live up to your family name, there's always one person you'll matter to."

Kokoro's attacks began to slow significantly, which Hanafuuma found convenient due to her struggling to say what she needed to.

"Kokoro… That person is me. I… I love you."

While it wasn't as grand a display as Remilia's release, Kokoro was soon rid of the dust as it fell from her body. For a while, she remained perfectly still while staring at Hanafuuma, until eventually she collapsed into the other girl's arms and began to weep.

"I'm…" She took a deep breath. "I can't believe I let this happen to me!"

"It's happened to the best of your clan," Alucard said.

Hanafuuma nodded. "And every one of them came out a stronger person. I have no doubt that the same applies to you."

Although she was still crying, Kokoro managed to smile as she tightened her embrace. "Thank you. ...I love you too, Hanafuuma."

When they finally began to move along again, everybody noticed that the atmosphere was now considerably calmer than it was before. However, very few of them were able to relax, as they knew all too well what they would be facing when that calm was over.

Even though she was no longer working against her allies, Kokoro was still determined to do what she had come to do.

* * *

><p>AN: I wish complaining about how slowly I'm writing this was a valid solution to the problem.


End file.
